Greek sale, EggFest on foodie horizon
It’s that time of year again! Mark your calendars, empty a shelf in your freezer and make room in your pantry for the sweet and savory goodies sold at the annual Philoptochos Greek Bake Sale, an event hosted by members of the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church.
It’s scheduled this year on Friday, Nov. 10, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., but orders should be placed as soon as possible in order to get the items you want, which may include:
› Baklava: Layers of phyllo with nuts, spices and syrup.
› Kataifi: Shredded phyllo around a nut mixture with syrup.
› Finikia: Wonderful spice cookies with syrup and rolled in walnuts. They’re good any time of day, but particularly with a cup of your morning coffee.
› Amygdalota: Crescent cookies with ground almonds, sugar and flavorings.
› Kourambiethes: Greek wedding cookies that will cover you in powdered sugar if you’re not careful. The sweet butter cookies with toasted almonds will melt in your mouth.
› Koulourakia: Twisted butter cookies that are also great with coffee.
› Galatoboureko: These sweet custard confections are billowed between phyllo with syrup poured on top after they are baked. These come frozen, so you will have to bake them once you’re ready to serve them.
› Paximathia: Twice baked biscotti-like cookies with toasted almonds.
› Paximathia (anisette): Twice baked biscotti-like cookies with anisette flavoring.
› Spanakopita: Frozen, uncooked phyllo with spinach, feta cheese and egg mixture. Two types are available: appetizer size and as pockets. Keep them in your freezer, and bake as needed.
› Tiropites: Frozen, uncooked feta cheese and egg mixture wrapped in phyllo. These also come in two sizes, appetizer and pockets, and must be baked at home.
› Almond cake: A delicious, not-too-sweet cake with almonds, butter and sugar that’s perfect for your afternoon tea.
› Chicken phyllo appetizers: Frozen and sold by the dozen, these are made with phyllo and stuffed with chicken, olive oil, lemon juice and herbs. Bake them, as needed, at home.
› Beef phyllo appetizers: The same as the chicken phyllo appetizers, only with beef and spices.
› Kok: Pronounced “coke,” these are sponge cakes that come filled with vanilla or chocolate pastry cream and covered with a chocolate ganache. New this year is lemon kok, a lemony sponge cake with a lemon cream filling.
› Baklava cheesecake: For lovers of baklava, the cheeses cakes have a baklava crust, cream cheese filling and a baklava topping. The cheesecake also comes in a chocolate version with chocolate added to the cream cheese filling.
› Sweet bread: A traditional Greek loaf made with flour, milk, butter and sugar and seasoned with orange zest.
› Copies of “Olives, Feta, Phyllo and More,” from the Greek church in Toledo, Ohio. The book is filled with nearly 200 tested recipes from the Toledo community of immigrants, restaurant owners and local chefs, including a tantalizing lamb shank recipe from “Iron Chef” Michael Symon.
And wait, that’s not all. The church hall will be open on sale day and serving hot food items — spanakopita, tiropita, galato boureko and pieces of pastichio. So bring a friend along and sit a spell to enjoy the delicious offerings.
Place your orders at annunciationgreek.org, then navigate to Bake Sale 2023. Orders may be picked up curbside if you’re not going in for the hot foods in the church hall.
EGGFEST
Here’s another culinary event you can enjoy even sooner. Two Chattanooga Times Free Press foodies will be competing in the Scenic City EggFest in Collegedale on Saturday. Fellow food writer Andre James, who keeps tracks of what’s happening in local restaurants, along with Kevin Wehinger, manager of consumer sales and marketing, will be among the amateur and professional teams preparing foods on Big Green Egg cookers. Rumor has it their specialty is ribs.
The special guest for the day is Myron Mixon, a five-time world barbecue champion. He’ll lead classes at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. The fun lasts from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Collegedale Commons, 4750 Swinyar Drive. The $30 ticket grants unlimited food samples and one drink voucher. Proceeds benefit the Chattanooga Area Food Bank. Get tickets at eldershardware. com/eggfest.