Cooking from My Big Fat Greek Cookbook — March 2026

My Big Fat Greek Cookbook: Classic Mediterranean Soul Food by Christos Sourligas and Evdokia Antzinas is a family recipe collection, the sort of thing a yiayia would actually cook from. March went fully Greek, and the next morning we were eating leftover orange cake and apple cake for breakfast.

Spinach Pie (Spanakopita)

We loved this so much during recipe testing that it got its own countdown post.

Filling:

• 10 oz spinach
• 6 scallion shoots
• 2 cups freshly chopped dill
• 3 eggs
• ½ cup uncooked Italian-style rice
• 5.3 oz feta cheese
• 3 tablespoons olive oil + 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• ½ tablespoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper

Crust:

• 10 phyllo dough sheets
• Olive and vegetable oil for brushing

Two cups of dill is not a typo, and the phyllo layering is the whole game.

Apple Cake (Milopita)

Dusted with icing sugar and gone by the end of the night, minus what we hid for the next morning.

• 6 apples, plus sugar and cinnamon for sprinkling
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup olive oil (or vegetable oil, or a combo)
• 1½ cups sugar
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Greek honey and powdered sugar, for the glaze

Orange Cake (Keik Portokali)

The apple cake’s rival. The table never settled the argument, so make both.

• 1 large orange
• 2½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon vanilla powder
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup olive oil
• ½ cup milk
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• Greek honey and sugar, for the glaze

From the night

Also from the book: koulourakia, the butter cookies sitting next to the orange cake in that photo, plus bougatsa and keftedes.