ST. LOUIS — St. Louis County Greek Festival returns to Assumption Greek Orthodox Church on Memorial Day weekend.
This is the first time they've been back in-person since Covid. There will be live music, traditional dancing, tours of the church, vendors and of course the fabulous food!
The festival will run May 26-29. This year, debit and credit is only accepted for payment, no cash. For more information, click HERE.
Thursday morning, life-long volunteer, Bessie Theodoro, joined Mary in the Show Me kitchen with a spread of traditional Greek dishes to preview the annual event. She even shared her recipe for authentic Greek Baklava.
Bessie's Baklava
Yield: 15" x 18" pan (100 pieces)
Ingredients:
2 lbs. shelled walnuts or pecans
3/4 cup sugar
4 tsp cinnamon
2 lbs. sweet butter, melted
2 pounds phyllo
Syrup:
4 cups sugar
3 cups water
1/2 cup honey
1 stick cinnamon
1/2 lemon juice
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix nuts, sugar and cinnamon together and put aside. Grease pan well with melted butter. Lay out six pastry sheets in pan, one at a time, buttering each one. Sprinkle with nut mixture. Repeat this process until you have six sheets left on top.
Place in refrigerator for about 15 minutes. Remove and cut into diamond shapes. Place a clove in middle of each piece. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Then, reduce heat to 350 and bake an additional 30 minutes. Cool. Prepare syrup by boiling all ingredients together for 15-20 minutes. Pour hot syrup over cooled baklava.