SAVOR THE FLAVORS OF GREECE.

Byline: Natalie Haughton Food Editor

Souvlaki, pastitsio, moussaka, spanakopita, baklava - these are just a sampling of some of the wonderful, authentic Greek foods waiting to explode with flavor on your palate this weekend. You can make some of the specialties at home for Memorial Day feasting or head to the 32nd annual Valley Greek Festival at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Northridge, where you can get a taste of Greek culture and tradition.

While prepared food is the festival's main attraction, you'll find a Greek market selling specialty food products, along with cooking demonstrations, lots of live entertainment (musicians and dancers), boutiques, games for children and more.

Among the most popular food selections are kourambiedes and chocolate baklava - the two top pastry sellers - grilled lemon chicken and beef shish kabob (souvlaki) dinners, and gyros (beef and lamb mixture served in pita bread with tzatziki). One of the more unique offerings is loukanika, a Greek sausage, redolent with orange.

``The festival is a massive undertaking - with an average of 50,000 attendees expected over the three-day weekend - and 500 volunteers assisting,'' says chairwoman Charlotte McCarty.

Preparing the festival food is like running a food company for six months - making 60,000 pieces of 14 different sweet and savory baked goods including pastries like chocolate baklava, kourambiedes and melomacarona along with pastitsio, moussaka, spanakopita and tyropita, in the church kitchen, points out Eugenia Georgilas, co-chairwoman of the pastries with Mary Costopoulos. ``Organization is the key,'' adds Georgilas, a Greek native and 20-year veteran of festival pastry-making.

``We've been baking nonstop four days a week since February,'' says Georgilas, one of 40 volunteers who started work in January - planning, tasting and ordering ingredients. ``We don't order willy-nilly and leave anything to chance,'' emphasizes McCarty, adding that food products are checked and sampled prior to purchasing.

All of the baked goods are stored, well wrapped in boxes, in commercial freezers, except for the diples, which have been prepared and deep-fried in the last few days. They are dipped in a room-temperature honey/orange/cinnamon syrup and sprinkled with chopped walnuts daily at the festival, so they are fresh and crisp, notes Costopoulos.

Preparing barbecue items - such as the 2,200 beef skewers and 2,400 half chickens - is much less labor intensive than turning out the pastries. ``We start marinating the skewered beef (for souvlaki) two days in advance of the festival in the refrigerator,'' notes Athens Bordokas, chairman of the barbecue dinner booth. ``Depending on the fire, we grill the skewers five to 10 minutes per side.''

If you opt to make the souvlaki (recipe included) at home, use filet mignon cubes, as the festival does, for excellent, tender results. Accompany with rice, Greek salad, feta, olives, bread and tyropita.

All ages get into the festival act. ``I've been involved with the festival since I was old enough to walk, says Melissa Randall, 23, who now does cooking demos - dolmades, baklava, spanakopita, etc. - with her mom and helps her dad in the gyros booth.

For Northridge resident Patricia Fix, a festival-goer with her husband and two children for the past 14 years, ``the Greek sausage and the warm fried bread (loukoumathes or doughnut holes) are the highlights.''.

Natalie Haughton, [phone]

natalie.haughton(at)dailynews.com

BEEF SOUVLAKI (KABOBS)

BEEF:

5 pounds 1-inch cubes beef filet mignon

DRY RUB:

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons pepper

1 teaspoon ground sweet basil

1 teaspoon ground thyme

MARINADE:

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup red wine

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon ground oregano 

1 bay leaf 

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 1/4 teaspoons paprika 

1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce

Skewer beef on 15 (6-inch) skewers. Combine all Dry Rub ingredients and sprinkle and rub on beef cubes.

Combine all Marinade ingredients in 9x13-inch or larger glass dish, mixing well. Place skewered beef in marinade and let stand (turning occasionally), refrigerated, 3 hours or overnight.

Grill skewers over medium high heat, turning often, until medium or desired degree of doneness. Makes 15 servings.

CHAMPAGNE RICE

2 cups chicken broth 

1 cup champagne

7 cups water

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter (not margarine)

1 (2-pound 4-ounce) box Near East 100 percent natural rice pilaf (available at Smart & Final)

Put chicken broth, champagne, water and butter in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in rice and dry seasoning packet (from package). Return to boiling, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to simmering. Cover pot and cook 30 minutes or until done. Check after 15- minute intervals. Makes 18 servings.

TYROPITA

12 large eggs

4 cups crumbled and packed feta cheese

2 cups (1 pound) cottage cheese 

2 cups (1/2 pound) grated Romano cheese

3/4 pound butter, melted

1 pound fresh filo dough (Pegasus brand preferred)

Beat eggs with an electric mixer 5 minutes or until light and frothy. Transfer eggs to a large bowl and by hand mix in feta cheese, cottage cheese and Romano cheese, until well blended.

Brush bottom and sides of a 12x18x2-inch pan with melted butter using a pastry brush. Begin layering filo sheets, brushing melted butter between each sheet. The first 5 filo layers should overlap the pan. The next 7 layers should fit inside the pan. Then add 1/2 of egg-cheese filling, spreading evenly over filo. Add 2 more layers of filo and spread evenly with remaining filling. Cover with 5 more layers of filo fitting inside of pan and tucking in overlapping filo layers from the bottom. Add remaining filo layers, brushed with butter, again overlapping the pan. Tuck in the overlapping filo on all sides gently. Butter top sheet completely. Score through the top layer of filo with a sharp knife, 5 down and 9 across, to make 45 pieces.

Bake in preheated 350-degree oven about 45 minutes or until golden. Makes 45 pieces.

LOUKANIKA

2 (1-pound) packages (6 links total) Greek sausage (loukanika; see Note)

2 lemons

Cut each sausage link into 8 to 10 slices. Saute in a hot skillet (without any oil). As sausage cooks, squeeze lemon juice over all. Cook until golden brown.

Serve with additional lemon wedges, cut up feta cheese, Kalamata and green olives and french bread baguette slices.

NOTE: The Greek sausage served at the festival is made by Old Neighborhood Foods, Lynn, Mass. It is available at C & K Importing Co., Los Angeles.

CHOCOLATE BAKLAVA

2 cups chopped slivered almonds

2 cups chopped walnuts

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 tablespoons brandy

2 cups miniature semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 pound sweet butter, melted

1 pound chocolate filo dough (Pegasus brand preferred)

Syrup

In a large bowl, mix together almonds, walnuts, cinnamon, brandy and mini chocolate chips. Brush sides and bottom of a 12x18x2-inch pan with butter using a pastry brush.

Open filo sheets and set aside 10 sheets for top layer. Place 6 to 8 filo sheets in pan, brushing each layer with butter. Spread evenly with 1/3 of nut filling. Top with 3 sheets of filo, brushing each with butter. Spread with another 1/3 of filling and top with 3 more sheets buttered filo. Repeat using remaining filling and 3 more buttered sheets filo.

Then top with 10 remaining, reserved filo sheets, brushing each with a lot of butter. Cut through to bottom of baklava with a sharp knife making diagonal lines to form diamond shapes. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven 50 to 60 minutes. While still hot pour COLD Syrup slowly over baklava, using entire amount. Let stand until cool. Store at room temperature up to 3 days or keep refrigerated (will keep up to a week). Makes 48 pieces.

SYRUP: In a large saucepan, combine 3 1/2 cups sugar, 2 cups water, 2 (4-inch) cinnamon sticks, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and juice, rind and pulp of 1/2 orange. Heat to boiling and boil about 10 minutes or until syrup is reduced to about 3 1/2 cups. Remove from heat. Cool completely. Strain out and discard orange rind and pulp and cinnamon sticks. Refrigerate until using (can be prepared a day in advance and refrigerated).

KOURAMBIEDES

1 pound sweet butter, softened

1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar plus additional for dusting

1 egg yolk 

1 tablespoon bourbon

3 cups flour

Whip butter with an electric mixer about 10 minutes, until white and fluffy. Beat in 1/2 cup powdered sugar, egg yolk and bourbon until well blended. Add flour and beat until dough is easy to handle; then knead a few minutes with hands until dough forms a soft ball.

Shape dough into walnut-size balls. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a preheated 300-degree oven 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned.

Immediately after removing from oven sift powdered sugar over the tops of the hot cookies. Then remove cookies to a plate or cookie sheet covered with powdered sugar. Place each in a paper cupcake container and onto small foil pans, and again cover with sifted powdered sugar. Cool completely. Makes about 40 cookies.

32nd ANNUAL VALLEY GREEK FESTIVAL

What: Experience the sights, sounds and flavors of Greece with assorted sweet and savory Greek foods, live music, dancing, games, boutiques and more.

Where: St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 9501 Balboa Blvd., Northridge.

When: 1 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sunday, Monday; free admission; pastries are $1.75 each; other food ranges from $5 to $12.

Greek pastries: tips from the expert

For those who want to try their hand at making Greek pastries, Eugenia Georgilas shares a few tips for success.

--``Buy fresh filo, never frozen.'' If you work fast, the filo won't dry out, and it's not necessary to place it on a damp towel or cover with plastic during assembly of baklava, etc. Brush only one side - not both - of the filo sheet with melted butter.

--``Don't be afraid of filo.'' If it tears, just continue assembling the dish. At the bottom, tears won't show and on top, you can hide them by brushing with butter. Georgilas uses sweet, not clarified butter as some recipes specify.

--To keep the top filo layers of baklava, tyropita, etc.. from popping up upon removal from the oven, Georgilas' secret is to ``spray the top layer with cold water before baking. If you don't, you'll lose some of the crispy top layers.''

--For light-textured kourambiedes - cookies traditionally made for Christmas and Easter in Greece but served at the festival because of their popularity - don't add too much flour.

--Use the food processor for chopping nuts for baklava, but don't over- process. The walnuts should be chopped medium while the almonds should be a little finer than medium. When making the chocolate baklava (it could sabotage any diet), a version developed by Georgilas, use miniature chocolate chips, for the best filling consistency. Be sure to use chocolate filo (Pegasus and Apollo brands available at Middle Eastern stores or selected Jon's markets in the Valley.) It handles even better than regular filo, most likely because the sheets are thicker, says Georgilas.

- N.H.

CAPTION(S):

6 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) ON THE COVER: Mary Costopoulos, left, and Eugenia Georgilas present souvlaki over champagne rice.

(2 -- color) LOUKANIKA

(3 -- color) BEEF SOUVLAKI (KABOBS)

(4 -- color) McCARTY

(5 -- color) CHOCOLATE BAKLAVA

(6 -- color) KOURAMBIEDES (pictured above center)

Photos by David Sprague/Staff Photographer

Box:

Greek pastries: tips from the expert (see text)