Camilla, the Movies & Munchies host for April, gave us plenty of choices. We could choose any three of the My Big Fat Greek Wedding movies. I decided to re-watch the first one and dive into the other two which I had not seen. 
Number 1 (2002):
I had seen the original one soon after it premiered and loved it. I mean, really, who doesn’t love John Corbett? Since I had already seen it, I focused on finding the food.
- Moussaka
- Side dish of steaming hot guilt
- Spanakopita
- Spice on breakfast potatoes? https://www.kitchensanctuary.com/greek-potato-hash/
https://www.foodbymaria.com/greek-potatoes/ - Gyros on the street
- Italian food
- Christmas roast lamb (with brains and eyes)
- cheesecake
- Hard boiled Easter eggs and indistinguishable steam table food
- Whole lamb and potatoes
- Bundt cake
- Ouza
- apple and orange
It’s a cute story.
The second one (2016):
Also cute but this was probably my least favorite. All the characters are back but it gets a bit silly (IMHO). Besides a lot of Greek food seen in the first film, I also spotted mini-bundts with flowers, chocolate baklava (w/a side of strawberries), and eggplant.
John Corbett’s character becomes a high school principal!
The third and final sequel (2023):
This was my favorite from the opening scene on. There was a silly factor here as well (with the new family found in Greece), but I still liked it. More food spotted like souvlaki, lots of olive oil, tyropita (cheese pie), more eggplant and the gemista (stuffed vegetables with rice and herbs).
John Corbett is still hot in 2023!
If I had been really ambitious, I would have picked a food from each film and I almost did that choosing the spicy breakfast potatoes, chocolate baklava, and tryopita. In the end, I went healthy and made a version of a Greek salad that we could eat on for a few days.
My Big Fat Greek Salad
Ingredients
- 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 large cucumber, diced
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 small red bell pepper, diced
- 1 small yellow bell pepper, diced
- 1 small head of Romaine lettuce, chopped
- 2/3 c. pitted Kalamata olives, drained
- ⅓ cup red wine vinegar
- 1 lemon, juiced (about 3 T.)
- 1 t. Dijon mustard
- 2-3 t. honey
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ t. dried oregano (plus more for sprinkling on the salad
- dash of red pepper flakes
- ¼ t. salt
- ¼ t. fresh ground black pepper (plus more if needed)
- ½ c. extra virgin olive oil
- 4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
Instructions
- Place the red onion slices in a bowl of ice water and soak for 15 minutes. Drain well.
- Place the veggies in a large bowl and toss. Set aside.
- In a smaller separate bowl, whisk together the vinaigrette (or place it in a blender): vinegar, lemon juice, Dijon, honey, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and olive oil.
- Toss the salad with the vinaigrette. Top with the feta. Sprinkle on more oregano and pepper if desired.
- Serve.
Yield: 4 hearty servings
Thanks for hosting, Camilla. It was fun to revisit and discover these movies. I do love that the actors were consistent throughout and stuck with all three films, especially John Corbett!