Pawtucket’s Grecian Festival
Opa! 84 Years of Authentic Food and Fun
By Elizabeth Field
Photos by Chris Christopoulos

Imagine sizzling and juicy lamb on a spit; beef, chicken and pork souvlaki sandwiches with sliced onions and tomatoes; and lamb shank with vegetables (Greek osso buco) prepared in the traditional manner by male members of the Greek American community in Pawtucket.

Then imagine pita, or casseroles, made by the local parish’s women: hearty moussaka, with eggplant and ground beef; pastitso, or macaroni with hamburger; gigantes (fava beans with dill); tourlou-tourlou (a baked vegetable mixture); flaky tiropita, or triangular feta cheese turnovers in filo pastry; stuffed grape leaves; spanakopita (spinach in filo pastry); and heaping helpings of Greek salad.

Then conjure up an amazing array of Greek desserts made by the ladies of the Philoptochos Society of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church in Pawtucket. There are buttery, sugar-dusted kourambiedes “wedding cookies;” loukomades, or fried sweet honey puffs; delicate rizogalo (rice pudding); karithopita (walnut honey cake); and exotic baklava, kataifi and galaktobouriko, all mouthwatering filo pastries filled with chopped walnuts, sugar and spices, or topped with shredded filo pastry, or custard-filled.

Finally, think about some dark, sweet Greek coffee, a couple of biscotti-like paximadia and a nip of ouzo, Mavrodaphne or Metaxa, afterdinner Greek liqueurs, wines and brandies, to round everything out.

“It’s all about the food,” says Elli Panichas, the volunteer marketing chairwoman of the 84th Annual Grecian Festival sponsored by the Assumption of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church. This may be something of an understatement, as the festival’s volunteer cooks feed some 10,000 festival-goers over three days in late August.

“Food is interwoven with the Greek religion and culture,” Elli explains.  Cycles of fasting and feasting take place throughout the year, as epitomized by the lavish celebration of Easter following a 40-day Lenten fast. Name days are also important in the Greek church, as well as celebrations of the changing of the seasons. Many Greek American parents have their children study Greek, as a reinforcement of their culture and heritage.

The Pawtucket Grecian Festival, similar to counterparts in Cranston, Newport and other New England towns, embodies a glendi or village festival atmosphere alive with families, children, live Greek music and traditional Greek dancing, cooking demonstrations, a raffle for a trip to Greece, plus an agora or marketplace featuring crafts and other items. It offers some of the most authentic Greek cuisine around. And it’s a celebration of community as much as a celebration of great eating.

Preparations for the Pawtucket festival begin as early as April. A few days before Easter, I’m standing in the Assumption church’s adjacent community center as a crew of church women take some 375 piping hot, round, golden Easter loaves from the ovens of its professional kitchen, to be collected later that day for parish members’ Easter feasts.  The air is drenched with the aroma of butter and eggs.

Meanwhile Patti Panichas (a distant cousin of Elli) and Vikki Kizirian, both extremely active in the church, are getting a head start on the baked goods for the August festival, the vast majority of which are all prepared on-site by hand, partially cooked and frozen, and later finished in this kitchen and, to accommodate the large crowds, in rented outdoor ovens during the festival.

“We all have our own ‘secret ingredients’ for these dishes,” says Patti, as she mixes up the ingredients for a 12- by 24-inch tray of spanakopita, “but we use the agreed-upon recipes for the festival so that we have consistency from year to year.” Vikki works beside her at large table preparing a similar-size tray of baklava.

Both women are incredibly deft and speedy, making the process look simple. Patti combines the spinach, and other ingredients in her large mixing bowl, while Vikki’s bowl contains chopped walnuts, sugar, ground cinnamon and cloves.

Both use similar assembly techniques. After brushing their pans with melted unsalted butter, they lay eight to 10 layers of paper-thin filo dough on top of each other, each one brushed with more melted butter. “Don’t be afraid to use plenty of butter,” says Vikki. “If you don’t, it will be dry.” Patti recommends using a three-inch-wide soft brush, available in craft shops, to save time.

Both women spoon their fillings onto the filo dough, then place another eight to 10 filo leaves on top, brushing each of them with butter.  They fold over any overhanging layers of filo to make a neat, smooth package, then refrigerate their respective trays for about 30 minutes.  Then, using a serrated knife, they score the pastry nearly all the way through into squares or triangles, sprinkle it with cold water and bake at 350° for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Looked upon as a mentor to younger women of the community who “come observe” as she prepares traditional Greek food, Eve Gouras is one of the most interesting and inspiring members of the church—and a fixture at the Grecian Festival. The day I meet her, she is dressed like a fashion plate in white pants, chartreuse wool jacket with a vibrant multicolored silk scarf, a white beret and silver sandals.

At 86, Eve still staffs the loukoumades booth throughout the threeday festival. To make these scrumptious, syrup-drenched balls of fried dough, she prepares a fairly loose dough of flour, butter, yeast, eggs, milk and water, at continual intervals during the event, and carries the giant mixing bowl of dough outdoors to a large table, where she feeds the mixture through a funnel into a fryer. When the balls are crisp, she drains them on a screen, places them in a skillet of warm sugar-and-honey syrup, and sprinkles them with finely grated walnuts. They sell at $3 for six pieces, and are one of the most popular items at the festival.

Born in Pawtucket as one of 12 children of Greek immigrants, Eve recounts a childhood of such poverty that it was difficult for her parents to put food on the table. “I mostly helped my mother with laundry and taking care of the younger kids,” she says. “When I got married, I learned everything about cooking and homemaking because of my zeal for my background.”

Her “zeal” for life accounts for her deep devotion to her heritage, her religion and the energy to ride her bicycle between 10 and 20 miles every day. “I love to be thin; it gives me energy.”

A walking encyclopedia of Greek knowledge, Eve explains the significance of red-dyed hard-boiled eggs at Easter. “The color stands for the blood of Christ and the egg is a symbol of rebirth.” Rebirth, continuation of tradition, and celebration seem to be the theme of the Grecian Festival, too

RECIPE

Spanakopita

Elizabeth Field is a food writer who is counting on plenty of tourlou-tourlou, tiropita, baklava and kataifi at this summer’s Grecian Festival in Pawtucket.

84th Annual Grecian Festival
Assumption of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church
97 Walcott St., Pawtucket, RI
401.725.3127 • www.greekfestivalri.com
August 19–21, 2011 • F, 5–9 pm • Sa & Su, noon–9 pm

Ample street parking. Free shuttle bus service available at the easy-access parking lot on Roosevelt Avenue across from Pawtucket City Hall.