You will find this in hardly any cookbook, despite the fact that grenadir mars is a very common dish in Central Europe.  It is made very often and served with pickles or green salad. It is very easy and fast to make and it is very customizable to suit your palate – feel free to experiment with this recipe by adding more or less of any of the ingredients.

It is hard to know where this meal originated. The name (“March of the grenadiers”) can tell us that it might have been invented to feed soldiers during the monarchy. The other hint is that this food used to be made very often in military kitchens all over Eastern Europe.  Plenty of my older friend who had to serve the military reported that they got tired of Grenadir mars after serving the army for 2 years. Even so, it’s one of the most favorite meals in central Europe.

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Grenadir mars – Potato pasta

Best served with pickles any kind or with “head of lettuce Central European style” (recipe coming soon) . If you can’t get pasta squares, you can break a lasagna sheet into little squarish shaped thingies. Also you can try the version with smoked Spanish paprika for an interesting variation.

Ingredients

Makes 4 portions

• 3 medium onions
• 3  Tbs vegetable oil
• 1.5 pounds of potatoes
• 3 cups of pasta squares or other flat pasta
• 1tsp salt

Method

• Peel the potatoes, cut them into half-inch cubes and boil them until soft (cca 8-10min) and drain them.
• Dice the onions; heat about 2 Tbs vegetable oil,  and saute the onions with the salt over a medium low fire. You have to be careful not to burn the onions. The idea is to make them release their juices and get them translucent. Sometimes when the onions are frying too fast I add couple of table spoons of water.
• While you saute the onions cook the pasta to al dente, and drain. Toss with a Tsb of vegetable oil in order to prevent the pasta clumping.
• And now the big finale ! Once onions are translucent higher the heat and add the potatoes. Fold the onions over the potatoes and saute for another 5-7 minutes. Lower the heat, add the paprika and fold again. Add the pasta fold and you are done. Once you add the paprika do not saute too long, because paprika tends to get bitter.
• DO NOT FORGET TO SERVE WITH PICKLES !

This is one way Hungarians use cabbage with sugar. The other famous dish is cabbage strudel. Despite the fact that you use sugar in the meal, it is a main course. The combination of cabbage, sweetening, pasta and black pepper might seem weird, but it works together pretty well. Thumbs up for the imagination of the inventor of this dish.

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Cabbage and Pasta Squares

We don’t have a grater or food processor, so I used a good old knife and chopped the cabbage as finely as I could. While the meal looks a bit “rustic” it did not lose anything in quality. If you can’t find pasta squares you could make them by breaking up a lasagna sheet or tagliatelle.

Ingredients

Makes 4 portions

• 2 lbs of grated cabbage
• 1 lb pasta squares
• 3 tbs sugar
• salt
• 3 tbs vegetable oil
• ½ tsp black pepper

Method

• Grate the cabbage, salt it and let it sit for at least 30min
• Heat up the oil in a pan and add the sugar. Caramelize it.
• Squeeze the juices from the cabbage and start to fry it. Add the pepper.
• While frying the cabbage cook the pasta
• Once the cabbage is brown you can add the cooked pasta. Fry it for another 3-4 min.
• Enjoy