My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Culinary Movie Night Guide
Difficulty Level: Hard
Table of Contents
Equipment
Here is a list (with links) of all the equipment and decorations I used for My Big Fat Greek Wedding Culinary Movie Night. I would be incredibly grateful if you used my links. I will make a little commission, and that would really help with the cost of the website and related expenses. You can find my full Amazon List here!
- The Miracle Cure– Little Spray Bottles
Tips
- Personalizing the Menu– When planning your menu for your movie night, don’t feel pressured to serve exactly what I chose to serve. Feel free to remove/add/replace dishes so it makes sense for you and your guests. I’ve included an editable menu in this guide to make it your own!
- Managing Your Time– These movie nights can take a lot of time to prepare, especially if you plan on doing everything yourself. If you are planning a culinary movie night with a group, I suggest doing a potluck style. Have each person contribute a dish or two, and it’ll be very manageable. If you are planning on preparing everything yourself, here are some things I’ve learned while doing these often:
- Make A To-Do List– I can’t stress this enough! It’s very easy to forget simple things like opening a bottle of prosecco before you start the movie so you aren’t fumbling with the seal before serving. I have done this so many times! Your to-do list should include absolutely everything you need to do leading up to pressing play.
- Start Early– I learned this after a few very long days of trying to cook, prepare, and host all on the same day. Anything that can be done in advance should be done during the days leading up to the movie night. Some examples include pre-mixing cocktails, making desserts and other foods like soup that hold up well in the refrigerator, and pre-making any handmade decorations. Hosting is stressful enough without having to make a multi-course meal in one day, so get as much done as possible before.
- No Pausing– The question I get asked the most is “Do you pause the movie to bring out the next dish?”. It’s important to me that I don’t disrupt the flow of the movie, so I do not pause. It’s also important to me to enjoy the movie with my guests. Setting up everything I need before the movie helps me bring out each dish efficiently. The setup usually includes plating each dish and storing it in the refrigerator, so all I have to do is quickly microwave it before serving. I set out any garnish or decoration on my kitchen counter so it’s easily accessible. I even pour the cocktails into their cups and store them in the refrigerator, so all I have to do is add ice and any finishing touches before serving. Always think about how you can do the bare minimum during the film. I always include the setup in my to-do list as well, so I don’t forget about any aspect of the preparation.
- Optional– If your budget permits, I recommend ordering food that you may not be confident in cooking or food that may take a lot of time to cook. I do this occasionally, and it helps cut down the preparation time and supports local businesses. Win Win!
- Decorations- Have fun and decorate your space and serving tray! Add elements from the theme of the movie, but make a budget and stick to it! I usually use things I already own because these movie nights are DIY, and I don’t need to spend a fortune to make it fun. If I do buy decorations for the movie night, I try to find cheap or reusable things. If you are curious about some of the things I’ve used during the movie nights, here is a link to my Amazon List. All these items are things I bought with my own money and enjoyed using.
- Manage Stress- Culinary Movie Nights are fun and a great way to show your friends and family you love them. Sometimes, things you envision in your head will not come out perfectly. When this happens to me, it can be discouraging and stressful, but the people I do these for have NEVER expressed anything but appreciation. Go easy on yourself and remember that your guests are just happy to be there and to experience something you put so much thought and time into making.
Menu
I have created a free, editable, and printable menu for all the dishes I served for this Culinary Movie Night! Feel free to change it to what will work for you and your guests.
Cues
These are the cues I used during the movie night so I knew when I had to get the next dish ready to serve.
Please note: Each cue describes a scene that happens a few minutes before I have to serve the dish. It does not describe the scene the dish is based on. Some people get confused with that, so I thought I should specify. Because the cues only give you a few minutes to prepare the dish, it’s very important to have everything cooked and set up before the film starts. Review the “Tips” section above for ways to make this seamless.
I often get asked why I don’t use time stamps to keep track of when to serve the next dish and the simple answer is, I don’t find those helpful. If I used timestamps, I would have to have a separate timer going or keep disrupting the movie to check the timestamp. It makes much more sense to have cues to indicate when the next scene is about to happen. This allows me to enjoy watching the film with my guests.
Below is the link to the cues I used. This document is editable, so you can make updates if you decide to take out or change dishes.
Recipes
Moussaka
This dish may not look the best on a plate, but it was my FAVORITE dish of the night! It tastes very similar to lasagna with the meat sauce and bechamel, but instead of pasta, it’s layered with thinly sliced potato and eggplant that has been fried till crispy.
It’s a labor-intensive dish, so making it also felt like an immersive experience. While I was preparing all the layers, I imagined Toula’s mother in the kitchen making this dish for her daughter’s lunch. She poured hours into this dish because she wanted her child to be well-fed and happy. It makes me so sad that she was bullied by the plain white sandwich crew.
Here is the Moussaka Recipe I used.
Because you have to make each layer separately before putting them together, it can take a while to prep this dish. I recommend making it the day before, but instead of baking the casserole after assembling it, wrap it up and store it in your refrigerator. Then, on the day of movie night, you just have to bake the preassembled casserole in the oven before the movie. It needs about an hour in the oven, so start baking it about an hour before you’re ready to start the movie.
The Miracle Cure
This drink strangely does taste like a jelly bean! Ouzo is a Greek alcohol that has a licoricey flavor, so it’s not for everyone, but when you mix it with the blue curacao and lemonade, it really transforms into a jellybean.
I made these drinks a double because I wanted to fill the entire spray bottle with the beverage. This is something I made the night before to save time. I premixed the cocktail and filled the spray bottles. Then I stored them in my refrigerator overnight. When it was time to serve, I just grabbed them from the fridge and served them with glasses of ice so we could pour the cocktails into the glasses to enjoy.
Meet and Beat
This is the recipe I used for the vegetarian gyros. The character eating in this scene is vegetarian, so that’s why I went with this chickpea version instead.
To make serving this dish fast, I had everything pre-chopped and made ahead of time. This is the last thing I made before starting the film. I assembled the gyros and wrapped them in aluminum foil so they would stay warm. The scene happens early enough in the movie, so I just had them sitting on my kitchen counter, ready to be served.
Baby’s First Baptism
For this scene, I thought it would be funny to have a little floaty as the container for the dipping oil. I also wanted to make this dish interactive, so I served the red eggs (kokkina avga) so we could play the cracking game (tsougrisma). This Greek Orthodox game is commonly played during Easter. Two players hit their eggs together, and the player whose egg is still intact gets good luck for a year. I was defeated by my husband, but it makes sense because he’s married to me, so of course he’s lucky. LOL!
This is a dish I had already set up before I started the movie. I lightly toasted the bread, I had the eggs already made and in their dish, and I had the dipping oil already in the floaty.
Red Egg Recipe– This is the recipe I used, and it’s shocking how easy and common the ingredients are. It worked really well.
Dipping Oil– I didn’t do anything fancy for this dipping oil. It just has olive oil, some red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and dried thyme. You can make a simple dipping oil using this combination or whatever you have on hand that sounds good.
Greek-etarian
This scene takes place during the family Easter dinner, so I wanted to serve a lamb dish that would be commonly served at a Greek Easter dinner.
I always laugh hard during this scene because it reminds me of the first time I met my husband’s mom. I was a vegetarian at the time, and my husband is from the Dominican Republic, where they eat meat with every meal. To an old-school Dominican, “meat” is just red meat. So, she could not comprehend that I didn’t eat any type of meat. She wanted to cook for me, so she said, “Okay, I will make fish”. LMAO!
Slow Roasted Greek Lamb Kleftiko Recipe
The lamb came out so tender! Make sure to marinate it the day before. It takes a few hours to roast in the oven, so make sure you start cooking it with enough time on the day of the movie night.
I personally timed it so it was ready as I was starting the movie. Before starting the movie, I took the lamb leg out of the oven and covered it in aluminum foil, so it stayed warm until I served it. I served it with lemon wedges that I had pre-sliced.
Meeting The In-laws
This is my FAVORITE scene! It’s so funny all the way through. We could not stop laughing. I served a bundt cake with a flower pot in the center to match the one that the mom “fixes”. I also served ouzo because the in-laws kept being served shots until they couldn’t see straight. Lastly, I served spanakopita because they were offered these pastries after the aunt told a crazy story about how she absorbed her twin in the womb. LOL! What a chaotic night!
Lemon Poppyseed Bundt Cake Recipe– I made this cake the day before to save time. I did not make a glaze for this cake because the one in the movie didn’t seem to have one.
Spanakopita– I used a frozen premade spanakopita. I got it from Trader Joe’s, but I’ve seen them in the freezer section of most grocery stores. I baked these in the oven as part of my prep before starting the movie, and plated them.
I had this serving tray set up with the bundt cake, the glasses of ouzo, and the spanakopita before starting the movie. That way, it was very quick to serve.
Say Baklava!
I bought this baklava at a local bakery so I could save some time on prep. It was a Turkish bakery, so it’s a little different than a Greek baklava, but it’s all I had near me. It was delicious, so no regrets here. Another easy option is buying a frozen version. But if you want to put in the extra work and make it fresh, here is a Baklava Recipe you can follow.
We’re All Just Fruit
The dad’s speech at the end is so sweet, so I wanted to serve a dessert that embodied his message. He was talking about how his name means Orange (the fruit) in Greek and their name means apple in Greek. They are different, but at the end of the day, they’re all fruit. We’re all more similar than we think.
I served a traditional Greek orange cake (Portokalopita) to symbolize the Greek family. I topped the cake with an Apple Buttercream to symbolize the white family. I finished the cake with a slice of apple and a candied orange. The combination came together beautifully, just like the two families.
I had this cake already plated before starting the movie, so I didn’t have to do anything before serving.
