Greek Festival

Pastitsio is the only comfort food that can rival Mousaka in the hearts of the Greeks!

A delicious oven-baked, layered casserole that consists of pasta as a base, minced beef as a filling, and topped with a Béchamel sauce.

Delicious and served all Labor Day Weekend at our Festival's Indoor Foodlines (right next to its more famous cousin...Mousaka!)

Wow...though the vote was close, our informal poll has Galaktoboureko coming out ahead of Baklava as the most favorite dessert.

Must be because it is made fresh each day of our 4 day Festival by our pastry chefs with layers of golden brown crispy phyllo, sprinkled with melted butter, filled with the most creamy custard and bathed in scented syrup.

Labor Day Weekend...see you soon!

Ok...time for our annual survey...help us solve a great dilemma that challenges our festival patrons each year....Baklava or Galaktoboureko???

For us it's easy...we're open for 4 days...why not one each day??? (See you Labor Day Weekend!)

Deeply saddened to report that the construction of the observation deck in our Festival kitchen ran into a major setback, so we won't be able to add this new exhibit for our patrons this year...which...now that we think about it...may not be a bad thing!!! 😉

See you Labor Day Weekend!!

Loukoumades are little bite-sized fluffy sweet honey puffs (the Greek version of donuts), which are deep fried to golden and crispy perfection are traditionally served soaked in hot honey syrup, sprinkled with cinnamon and optionally garnished with chopped walnuts or toasted sesame seeds.

Served warm and fresh in our festival coffee shop (kafenion).

See you Labor Day Weekend!

Get moving and burn some calories before you take in a bunch more at the .

In April, our parish welcomed an IOCC representative to talk about its mission abroad and in the U.S. Now it's our turn to take action on July 4 at 8:45 AM with the Team IOCC Columbus 5K. Details and registration information are right here. See you there!

Greek moussaka is one of the most popular dishes in Greece, with luscious layers of juicy minced beef cooked in a tomato based sauce, layered with sweet eggplants, potatoes and creamy béchamel sauce and baked together until golden perfection.

Simply irresistible and on the menu for our annual Labor Day weekend Greek Festival.

We saw this posted elsewhere - a marriage between Galaktoboureko (a sweet custard desert) and Baklava!

Not sure it will make our Maria's Pastry menu...but it did make us pause and wonder!

See you Labor Day Weekend!!!

GALAKTOBAKLAVA.

2 x 375g Antoniou Fillo Pastry .
300g unsalted butter, melted
2 cups sugar
3 cups water
2 Tbsp honey
1 cinnamon stick
6-8 whole cloves
3 ribbons of lemon rind
120g unsalted butter
160g fine semolina
100g sugar
1 litre full cream milk
1 egg
1 ribbon of lemon rind
500g walnuts
2 tablespoons caster sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon all spice
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius.

Syrup

Add all the ingredients except the honey to a small saucepan. Stir once & bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low & allow the syrup to simmer for approx 20 min, or until it thickens slightly. Stir in the honey. Set aside to cool.

Custard

Place the butter, semolina, sugar, milk & lemon rind in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk constantly to avoid the semolina from sticking. Once the custard has thickened add the egg & whisk well. Remove the lemon rind. Set aside.

Assemble

Use a food processor to chop the walnuts until they are a chunky crumb. Mix in the sugar & spices.

Grease a 23 by 30cm baking tray with butter. Place the tray vertically in front of you. Brush a layer of Fillo Pastry with butter & place it horizontally on the top half of the tray allowing the some overhang. Brush another sheet of Fillo & place it horizontally on the bottom half of the tray, also allowing overhang & ensuring both ends overlap slightly in the middle of the tray. Continue this layering process with the remainder of the Fillo Pastry.

Pour in the walnut mix, spread & press down. Spoon over the custard & spread it gently over the nuts. Fold in the overhanging pastry & brush the Pastry with butter.

Sit the baking tray on top of the 2nd packet of Fillo & cut around the base. Place the Fillo off cut offs on top of any exposed custard then lay the entire second packet of Fillo that has been cut to size into the tray.

Cut Fillo diamond shapes. Pour the remaining butter on top of the Filo & tilt the tray from side to side so the butter seeps into all the incisions.

Bake for approximately 50 min or until golden. Remove from the oven & immediately pour over the cooled syrup.

Allow to cool before cutting & serving.

Considering a Memorial Day cookout? Then here's a Greek Festival souvlaki marinade recipe you make at home (next week...). It's good to use with chicken, pork or lamb:

1/2 lb. chicken, cubed
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 T. fresh lemon juice
1/2 t. dried oregano
2 t. Olive oil
1/2 t. salt

Refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes - but it's best if the meat marinates over night. Place on skewers and grill; serve with pita bread and tzatziki sauce.

See you Labor Day Weekend!!!!

One of our favorite desserts, Galaktoboureko (a creamy custard made from semolina, wrapped in sheets of phyllo and soaked in syrup) and one we make fresh every day during our Labor Day Weekend party.

And since Labor Day weekend is still a few months off, here is a great recipe for making it at home!
https://akispetretzikis.com/en/recipe/578/to-galaktompoyreko-toy-akh?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0KKVgGOYdLEqic4rjrXi2YUunvCcKjJoMJj7wfCeWPuAr-8v_ppB0C02A_aem_Ae9FnFrkUwrFkkAx80yUOKpiEeIivDZV1sXd6WgMM88axKuOK_MoMg89eRSMWVFVIiUHbb5atsWOquyDedpRASGR

Greek custard pie - Galaktoboureko Greek Custard Pie - Galaktoboureko by Greek chef Akis Petretzikis. An authentic traditional Greek recipe with a creamy custard filling between crunchy phyllo!

Morning breakfast? Our Pastry Chefs getting a jump on our Labor Day Weekend celebration?

All we know for sure is that these delicious traditional Greek butter cookies--packed with the aromas of roasted almonds, fresh butter and garnished with luscious layers of icing sugar--will be on the menu for our annual Greek Festival!

Though our friends in the Catholic west are deep into their Lenten journey, the Eastern Orthodox are just entering great and Holy Lent starting this Monday. A 40 day period of fasting, repentance and prayer leading to Easter on May 5th.

To make the fasting season a bit more “palatable” we found some great Lenten recipes and wanted to share them with our festival patrons as well!

Wishing all a blessed Lent!

https://thegreekvegan.com/tag/orthodox-greek-lenten-meals/

Save the date…for a great festival just north of us!

Hey festival friends...if you're attending the Arnold Sports Expo this weekend, you can park at AND support the ministries and outreach of the Cathedral. See below for details.

Park for a Good Cause - We have convenient parking for the Arnold, Friday, March 1st - right across from the Convention Center.

Central Ohio is full of GREAT ethnic festivals (ahem!). Congratulations to the for again earning national recognition.

Central Ohio festival nominated as one of country’s best by ‘USA Today’ for second year in a row For the second straight year, the Dublin Irish Festival has been one of the country’s top cultural festivals by USA Today. The festival was recently nominated in the USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice awards for Best Cultural Festival. Voting, which is open now, can be done here. You can continue ...

Just in time for Thanksgiving…a great recipe for lemon potatoes.

Crispiest Greek Lemon Potatoes Recipe (Patates Lemonates) Perfect Greek lemon potatoes! Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside with a delicious lemony flavor. Discover all the secrets to bake them to perfection here!

Thank you Central Ohio for your support and patronage as we celebrated our 50th Anniversary sharing our Greek culture and heritage!

It was our honor that you joined us this year and look forward to celebrating with you again in 2024.

Until then enjoy some scenes from this year!

OPA!!

No admission fee on Monday for the . Three days of overwhelming support and attendance have left us short on a few of your favorite foods. Best advice: Get there early on Labor Day to get those Greek eats before they’re gone.

We have been by record crowds Friday and Saturday - Sunday is off to a fast start too! If you’re coming to the our best advice is to GET HERE SOON to make sure we still have all of your favorites.

Morning view of the festival grounds as our parish family pauses the festivities for the Sunday morning Divine Liturgy worship services offering thanks to God for all the blessings He bestows on our community and for all the guests that we host each year.

Gates open at Noon!

Day two in the books...2 days of sharing Greek culture with Central Ohio left to go!

Gates open at Noon...hope to see you there!

Day one in the books...3 days of sharing Greek culture with Central Ohio left to go!

Gates open at 11am...hope to see you there!

We can' t think of anything more savory than Pork or Chicken Souvlaki (shish kebab) marinated in lemon, olive oil and spices and grilled to perfection by our Greek Festival master grillers!!!!

Wrap it in a slice of Pita bread and enjoy a unique Taste of Greece!

Doors open at 11am Friday!

Everyone is Greek during festival week....even a famous mouse is in the spirit!!

Gates open tomorrow at 11am, just in time for lunch....OPA!

Some interesting stats for the coming Labor Day weekend. In the 4 day festival run, we expect to serve:

1,100 pounds of roasted chicken Greek Style; 6,600 keftedes (Greek meatballs); 9,900 stuffed grape leaves; 9,000 spanakopita; 8,500 tiropita; 5,000 servings of pastitsio; 4,000 servings of moussaka and somewhere in the vicinity of 25-30,000 pastries.

What's even more interesting...is that we prepare and cook all the food ourselves. No outside food vendors are allowed! Can we get an OPA???

How do you like your baklava served?

Plain?
Baklava Chocolate Cheese Cake?
Baklava Sundaes?

OR how about a piece (or two) of Chocolate Baklava as shown below???

If any of these variations strike your sweet tooth, then stop by the Festival's Maria's Pastry Shoppe and enjoy!

Doors open Friday at 11am! See you soon!