22 Greek Recipes to Master

This yogurt dip is incredibly versatile—serve it with toasted pita wedges as an appetizer, or pair it with grilled lamb, chicken, fish or vegetables.

Hetty McKinnon says her recipe for horiatiki is "fairly traditional, with a few small quirks." Pickled shallots are swapped in for raw onion, and the dish also gets paired with a bright beet hummus.

Blanched and toasted almond pieces bring a lovely crunch to these crumbly, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth Greek Christmas cookies. Some versions of kourampiedes add orange zest, but League of Kitchens Greek cooking instructor Despina Economou, who shared this recipe, prefers the simple flavors of butter, sugar, almonds, and vanilla.

It's hard to resist that Greek diner specialty of potatoes bathed in a lemony oil. In this version, slices of lemon are roasted along with the potatoes, gently perfuming the dish making it fresher and very satisfying.

Taramasalata is a Greek dip or spread made with salted fish roe, olive oil and bread (or sometimes potatoes). Chef Zoi Antonitsas's creamy version is a perfect accompaniment for grilled asparagus.

Traditionally shaped into small triangles or made in large casserole dishes, the Greek spinach pies, known as spanakopita, are just as easy to roll into logs. This unconventional shape offers plenty of contrast between the crisp layers of buttered phyllo and the creamy, dill-flecked filling. Round out this vegetarian meal with a green salad.

This simple recipe features garlic, dill, oregano, lemon zest, lemon juice, and more.

Michael Psilakis dresses these luscious lamb chops with ladolemono, a super simple Greek sauce of lemon juice and olive oil. The sauce is often spooned over fish, but it's delicious on meat and vegetables, too. "This is real Greek cooking," he says.

For shrimp saganaki, Greeks sauté shrimp in a pan with tomatoes, olives and feta cheese, then serve it right out of the skillet with bread to soak up all the delicious juices. Grace Parisi stirs fresh dill into her quick version to brighten the flavor.

Chef Zoi Antonitsas tops flaky grilled fish with a super lemony Greek ladolemono sauce and serves it with the tangy, garlicky potato puree called skordalia.

"On the Greek island of Kalymnos, fishermen make a stew with shellfish, whole fish, lemon, onion and water," says Andrew Zimmern. "They eat it straight from the pot with their hands—no bowls. It tastes of sweat and iodine, but it is easily one of the best soups I've ever had. I make my version with halibut, throwing in mussels at the end."

All you need to make this thick, tangy yogurt is one quart of whole goat's, sheep's, or cow's milk, as well as a couple spoonfuls of plain full-fat yogurt with live active cultures.

Beating the butter until very fluffy—a good 10 minutes—makes these Greek shortcakes especially light.

These crisp pastries can be made one day in advance and stored in an airtight container overnight at room temperature.

Grilled chicken on pita with tomatoes, onions and tzatziki makes a cool yet satisfying warm-weather supper. Souvlaki is often rolled to eat in your hand as a snack, but this more substantial version is served on a plate with a knife and fork. If you like, accompany the souvlaki with lemon wedges. When using wooden skewers, soak them first in water for at least ten minutes, or they'll smoke during cooking.

Kamut, an ancient variety of wheat, adds hearty chew to this entree inspired by a classic Greek salad. Soak kamut overnight to help it cook faster or, for an even easier dish, cook the kamut in advance to trim day-of prep to 30 minutes.

The moist and fragrant casserole pastitsio traditionally combines béchamel with pasta, ground lamb, tomato sauce, cheese, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Here, instead of béchamel, Grace Parisi stirs a ricotta mixture into the pasta before baking it.

In Greece, this type of nut cake is often soaked in syrup, resulting in a very sweet, moist dessert. Here, a citrus syrup filled with lots of fresh, juicy oranges is served on the side, so everyone can add as little or as much as they like.

Jacques Pépin ordered a saiti, a turnover filled with tangy wild greens and feta, at Marianthi tavern in the Greek village of Monemvasía. This recipe is a close approximation. The olive oil in the dough (adapted from a recipe by Diane Kochilas) makes the crust extraordinarily flaky.

Of his delicious and crowd-pleasing Greek salad, Athens, Georgia, chef Hugh Acheson says, "It feeds four people like champions, or six like semifinalists."

This creamy, briny dip belongs in the pantheon of classic Greek meze, alongside hummus, baba ghanoush and skordalia.

This is Greek salad perfection: Michael Psilakis tops warm bread with garlicky red-pepper tzatziki (cucumber-yogurt spread) and a piquant combo of cucumbers, olives, peperoncini, tomatoes, radishes, greens and feta.