Not much left where I am - and sort of out of touch with it - i.e. - we meet at funerals only. My fondest memories of Latvian get togethers was the food. Certain items stand out of course - but my wife (Polish/Ukrainian background) does make klinger, piparkukas & the occassional pirag.

Some times we don’t remember enough of an item. I have three particular requests for recipes if possible.

#1 - a recipe for goose liver pate. I have eaten alll types of pate - but none ever came close to the Latvian ones I tried.

#2 - If I remember correctly - I believed it was a pickled fish, with onions for sure, and possible with tomatoes. Any ideas on these.

#3 - At the “eglites” we had years back - there were particular peas that were done up so that “it is like eating candy”. At least that was what they claimed - they were tasty. Any ideas on this one - in that I am sure they were likely buttered with some sort of fat or leavings, but I could be wrong on this one. I am pretty sure that they were a particular type of imported pea.

Paldies for any help.

Pickled pike and gray peas........I’ll pass on pate’.
The pate’ that i remember had tiny chunks
of fat in it.
I didn’t think that latvians force-fed the geese
like the french do, or maybe they don’t any more.
Foie gras is now a banned substance in US.

For #3 try:
http://www.receptes.lv/lat/nacionalie_edieni/latviesu_edieni/?recipeid=8568

Thanks for the replies.  I agree on the chunks in the pate - but I liked the taste.

Mikelis

Pickled fish w/ onions & tomatos, make a couple of days ahead of serving, eaten cold.  (Hot isn’t bad either)

All ingredients are sort of exchangeable; quantities are approximations.  If you like one ingredient more, put more of it in, etc.  (I’ll put the faster version in parentheses even though latvian gourmets will shudder with horror)

Any ‘cheap’ white fish, Cod is the usual. (Ready to bake breaded fish sticks or fish portions. omit breadcrumb / flour step)
bread crumbs or flour + salt + pepper
onions, sliced or diced, about 1/3 - 1/2 as much as the fish
carrots, peeled & grated, about 1/3- 1/2 as much as the fish
tomato sauce, to taste, about 1/2 as much as the fish. (any prepared veggie spagetti sauce that you like the taste of; when I’m really lazy I buy “tomato + onions” or “chunky garden vegetable” and pretty much omit the onions & carrots steps altogether.)

Dredge fish in flour mixture or breadcrumb mixture, fry or bake until done. Set aside.
(Bake the breaded fish sticks per instructions on the box)
Saute onions until translucent, add carrots & saute a little more until carrots chg color.  Don’t let carrots burn -they become bitter.
Prepare tomato sauce to your own liking with salt, sugar, whole or ground black pepper, bay leaves, dill if you like, etc.  (Heat the store-bought spagetti sauce to boiling)

In a dish deep enough to hold contents of all, spoon in some hot tomato sauce, then begin to layer:  hot fish, hot vegetables, more tomato sauce, next layer of fish goes in perpendicular to the previous layer of fish, etc.  Finish with tomato sauce. 
There should be enough tomato sauce to cover all the fish.

Put in refrigerator to cool & allow flavors to develop, 1-2 days.  Expect the tomato sauce to thicken.
When serving, garnish with something green - dill, chives, green onion, parsley or celery leaves.

Liver pate - make ahead.

I dont recall the exact quantities of any of these; and you will need a meat grinder

Liver (chicken) about 1-2 lbs.  chop it up some.
butter, at least 1 stick (1/4 lb), maybe more
onions, diced at least 1 cup
maybe a little bit of chicken bullion
salt, pepper, even some sugar to taste
a couple of shots of brandy

melt butter in heavy pan, saute onions,
then add livers.  Saute until thouroughly cooked. 
Add some bullion to keep livers moist while cooking, but not a lot.  Add seasonings.
Put cooked contents of pan through the meat grinder; for smoother pate, put it all through the grinder a second time.

Now add 2 “glugs” of good brandy, mix thoroughly.
The trick is to not make all of this too watery.
Put pate in bowls, cool in refrigerator.  The amount of butter in this dish will then ‘set’ the pate to a spreadable firmness.  Too much of the liquids will make the pate remain kind of runny, even when cooled.

Garnish with greens - pickles, dill, celery leaves, etc.
Serve with (homemade) dill pickles, onions, white of brown bread.

Paldies Ilze. I am also fully aware of the lack of measurements in many Latvian recipes. To have an actual precise recipe would be close to impossible. Even for a pirag - how many different variations has each of us tried over the course of our life times. They vary in size - they vary in proportion of filling to dough. filling itself on the tradition ones can be bacon or ham or a combination of the two - the onions used can be the spanish or green or a combination of the two - with or without caraway seeds. But building the prefered pirag would certainly be a different post.