This is my version of the Slovak dish, Granadír. It’s made with fried leftover pasta and cooked potato. It’s super simple and very satisfying.

Simple and Satisfying

I chose to make Granadir because it’s so simple it’s foolproof – which is about all I’m capable of at the moment.

I also knew I wanted to make something that was vegetarian or vegan. And I also love the fact that you could make this with leftovers.

Have you ever fried up some leftover pasta from the day before? If not, do it. It’s so good. And until you try it you’ll never suspect it as good as it is.

Usually a flatter type of type of pasta is used in this dish but the type of gluten-free pasta I most often use is Fusilli so that’s what I used here. (Also, I tend to cook my pasta in stock these days – try it, it’s good)

The original recipe also uses boiled potatoes whereas I’ve used baked potatoes here. If I boil potatoes I’m going to turn them into creamy mashed potato and there’ll be no leftovers.

But do you ever buy a bag of potatoes, use half the bag and then sorta forget you have them? I do. And I find the best thing to do when I discover them a week or so later is to remove the eyes, wash them and bake them. There’s little preparation required. You can have them that evening with butter, or you can use them over the next days by chopping them up, sprinkling some sunflower oil on them and seasoning them well with some salt, pepper and paprika. Then you can either bake them or fry them.

So that’s why I’m using baked potatoes here rather than boiled ones.

Granadír is more of a side dish than a dinner usually, I think. But I really wanted to have a satisfying vegan dinner, so I added some roasted chickpeas and mushrooms to bulk it up and add some protein.

Slovak Dishes

Originally I intended making a vegetarian version of Slovak Stuffed Peppers. But honestly, at the moment, rather than experimenting, I wanted to make something that can easily be made gluten-free, vegetarian (or vegan) and that is so simple that it is next to impossible to mess up. So I went with Granadir. And I’m not sorry I did.

But the food in Slovakia does look amazing. I found this great little video with a couple trying some lovely dishes in Bratislava. The dishes look so tasty!

There were lots of other tempting Slovak dishes to choose from. Particularly some sweet treats which really caught my eye, but I love stuffed peppers and these looked really good.

Things to see and do in Slovakia

When I was in Vienna I went on a day trip to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. The old town part of it is very charming. There was a lovely crafts and curiosities type shop, can’t remember the name, where I picked up these mugs. I’ve unfortunately broken the two of these ones I had. I’m very clumsy and break everything – it’s so annoying.

Anyway Bratislava is really charming and has a nice vibe to the place. Definitely worth a visit – and one that is longer than a day. – I still have this cat mug I bought there and I love it.

I’m probably going to break it tomorrow now knowing me…

So let’s see what the great ol’ t’internet advises to do and see on a proper visit to Slovakia.

• 25 of the best things to do in Bratislava
• 24 amazing places to visit in Slovakia that aren’t Bratislava
• 12 reasons why you should visit Slovakia

What is Slovakia like for coeliacs and the gluten-intolerant?

I hadn’t given up gluten when I visited there so I have no idea what it’s like myself. But I found this blog post which suggests it’s not exactly easy to manage but there are options.

Gluten-free in Eastern Slovakia