Mains

French and Baltic main courses: Weeknight dinners, lazy Sundays, family meals, and the occasional dish for company.

In my grandmother’s kitchen, nobody ate until everyone was at the table. I still remember the smell of onions cooking, steaming potatoes, kotletes (Latvian breaded meat patties) straight from the pan, a mushroom sauce, a green salad and my favorite, her simple red radish salad with sour cream and dill, on the side. Nothing fancy, just the typical food you get when you grow up in a Latvian household.

My French mother-in-law was an amazing cook. Lots of quiches, like this Quiche Lorraine and salmon and spinach quiche, and soups to start a meal, like this simple cauliflower, potato and leek soup, and our family’s favorite Christmas dessert: chestnut and chocolate no bake Yule log. She was brilliant with planning her meals ahead, so she could actually enjoy the meal too.

French and Baltic mains is what this section is about, and more Latvian recipes including pan fried breaded pork and chicken (Karbonade) and potato pancakes (Kartupeļu Pankūkas) are on their way. On weeknights when I need something fast, I like to make lemon pepper chicken drumsticks with dill or just a soup, like this quick pumpkin soup with carrot and apple, served with some nice sourdough bread or traditional Baltic rye bread.

And if you want more details on how the French and Baltic people eat at home, you can check out how French people eat at home and how people in the Baltic region put together a meal.