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Armenian Traditions Passed Down As Tribute To 'Pillars Of The Kitche

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  • Armenian Traditions Passed Down As Tribute To 'Pillars Of The Kitche

    ARMENIAN TRADITIONS PASSED DOWN AS TRIBUTE TO 'PILLARS OF THE KITCHEN'
    by Debbi Snook, Plain Dealer Reporter

    Plain Dealer
    October 1, 2008 Wednesday
    Cleveland

    EVENT

    7th Annual Armenian Food Festival and Bazaar

    When: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday; noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

    What: Chance to sample Armenian foods, listen to the country's music,
    tour the church and buy crafts. There also will be entertainment
    for children.

    Where: St. Gregory of Narek, 678 Richmond Road, Richmond Heights.

    Cost: No admission fee, but food prices range from $2 to $8.

    Contact: Dina Walworth, 216-570-2247.

    Thirty years ago, members of the St. Gregory of Narek Women's Guild
    foraged for edible wild grape leaves in the back seven acres of their
    Richmond Heights church.

    "The men came with us," said Sandy Aurslanian. "You could get lost
    back there."

    Much of that property has been sold off for development, but the
    domed and arched church - Ohio's only Armenian church - still sits
    elegantly across from Richmond Town Square. And the women of the
    church are still coming together to stuff grape leaves with rice,
    onion and herbs and raise money for the parish.

    Less than two weeks remain before this year's Armenian Food Festival
    and Bazaar, Saturday and Sunday. Already the women have stuffed
    1,700 grape leaves, tucked feta cheese into puff pastry for 1,500
    cheese boereg and cooked and seasoned ground lamb and beef for 1,008
    flatbread pizzas called lahmajoun.

    Many of the desserts they will serve, including an Armenian-styled
    baklava, will be prepared over the next week. Lamb and chicken will
    be marinated, skewered and cooked over charcoal. Cracked wheat pilafs
    will be simmered in broth, and green fattoush salads will be seasoned
    with tart, red sumac berries.

    "It's a lot of work," said Aurslanian. "We have a couple crates of
    parsley to prepare, and that has to be washed and the leaves picked
    off and chopped. All the lemons must be juiced."

    In a cooperative interfaith culinary moment, the women will store
    much of what they make in extra freezer space at St. Paschal Baylon,
    a nearby Catholic church.

    None of these Mediterranean-styled festival dishes would be made if
    the women thought of it only as work. On a strikingly clear September
    Saturday morning, about 20 of them gathered in the church hall to
    make cheese boereg. While Armenian congregations in Boston and New
    York may be larger, some feel St. Gregory's is special for the way
    it continues to pull in the young to learn the tricks of the old.

    Some of those tricks include the logistics of turning 30 pounds of
    cracked wheat into pilaf. Or, testing the proper texture of baklava
    syrup as it rolls off the fingernail.

    Each procedure comes with room for other opinions.

    "We're all critics here," said Alice Paterna, who co-manages the
    festival's food preparation.

    The event has raised about $10,000 a year for the past six years,
    which added up to a little more than half the money needed to rebuild
    the church hall kitchen last year. Festival manager Dina Walworth,
    41, Aurslanian's daughter, said she thinks of Armenians as warm,
    hardworking people who have similarities with Jews because of the
    way they merge their religion with their cultural identity and have
    survived terrible genocides.

    Armenia was the first Christian country, as of the year 301, and has
    suffered a parade of persecutors. It is north of Turkey and Iran and
    sits landlocked in the isthmus between the Black and Caspian seas.

    "My mom's generation knew some of the million-and-a-half people who
    died in the attacks of 1915," she said. "They were driven to build
    this church and after hearing the stories, we, the younger generation,
    are driven to keep it going.

    "It's one of the reasons we make this food."

    Walworth calls the cooks who came before her "pillars of the
    kitchen." She thinks of them as she works her way through recipes,
    especially when she's stuffing grape leaves at home with leaves she
    gathered herself.

    So does her mom, Aurslanian, who can barely speak of her food -
    and life - mentors without fanning her face to ward off her tears.

    "I learned everything from them," she said, before turning back to
    the job at hand.

    To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: [email protected], 216-999-4357

    NUT KHADAIF

    Makes 8-12 servings

    DOUGH:

    1 pound khadaif (shredded phyllo) dough

    ¾ pound unsalted butter, melted

    2 cups walnuts, chopped

    1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

    3 tablespoon sugar

    SYRUP:

    2½ cups sugar

    1½ cups water

    Cook's note: Find the shredded phyllo in some supermarket frozen-food
    sections or in Cleveland at Athens Pastries (2545 Lorain Ave.,
    216-861-8149), Aladdin's Baking Co. (1301 Carnegie Ave., 216-861-0317)
    and Mediterranean Imported Foods at the West Side Mar ket (Lorain
    Avenue and West 25th Street, 216-771-4479).

    Prepare dough: In large bowl, loosen the shreds of khadaif and work in
    melted butter. Spread half of the dough in a 9-by-13-inch pan. Mix
    nuts with cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over khadaif. Arrange
    remaining buttered dough over nuts.

    Baking: Bake in preheated 350-degree oven for 1 hour or until golden.

    Syrup: Boil sugar and water for 10 minutes and set aside. When khadaif
    is done, pour hot syrup over it and cover with foil until cool.

    Serving: Cut into squares and serve at room temperature or slightly
    warm with extra syrup if needed.

    Source: Adapted from the St. Gregory of Narek Women's Guild, Richmond
    Heights.

    CHEESE BOEREG WITH PUFF PASTRY

    Makes 24 servings

    FILLING:

    1 pound brick cheese

    ¼ cup crumbled feta cheese

    1 egg, beaten

    2 tablespoons parsley, chopped

    DOUGH:

    1 package Pepperidge Farm puff pastry

    GLAZE:

    1 egg, beaten

    Cook's notes: Brick, a melting cheese, is often found in supermarket
    deli sections. A small pizza wheel cutter is handy for cutting
    the dough.

    Prepare dough: Thaw dough according to package directions. Divide each
    pastry sheet into thirds and cut each strip into 4 equal pieces. Roll
    each piece into a 4-inch square.

    Fill pastry: Place about 1 heaping tablespoon of cheese mixture on
    half of the square and fold the other half over to cover cheese,
    making a triangle. (Wet edges of dough with water if needed.) Seal
    edges by pressing with fork. Brush tops with beaten egg.

    Baking: Bake at 400 degrees until golden, about 12 to 14 minutes.

    Serving: Cool slightly before eating; cheese can be hot.

    Source: Adapted from the St. Gregory of Narek Women's Guild, Richmond
    Heights.

    --Boundary_(ID_ZYBCHt+tRhyMQ6bZ lwx5XA)--
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