Mystery Ingredient

What is this? You ask. This is delicious. Not to be like "I'm awesome" or whatever but I'm starting to get pretty good at low-sal recipes. Tonight I just cooked up some pasta with onions, garlic, peas, chicken and...*hesitates* banana juice. OK! YES! I understand what I just said. And before you freak out and stop reading my blog let me explain...

I love good flavor development in a dish, it just takes everything to another level. Before the "discovery of sensitivity" I'd just dump a can-o-chicken broth on there. Mmm. Good flavors. Just deglaze your pan with a little broth and voila! Pasta sauce. But now anything canned is right out and since I haven't really had time to make my own broth or stock, what was I to do? Banana juice (or really, puree- I buy the brand Looza which also sells a fantastic pear juice) is what I drink with breakfast these mornings- lots of potassium to start the day out right. So I was looking at it like "Well, I used the pear juice, why not the banana?" And thus began the banana sauce. Here it is.

Chicken Brine

2 chicken breasts in a 1/2 inch dice

1tsp salt

4cups warm water

Pasta!

1/2-3/4 lb of whatever you want (I used fettucini)

2tsp salt

Saucy Sauce

2/3cup BANANA JUICE!

1/3cup canola or sunflower oil

1/8cup soy sauce

2 tsp lemon juice

1 (generous) tbsp canola oil

1 medium onion, sliced in 1/4 in slices

1 clove garlic

1 cup peas (fresh or frozen, doesn't matter)

1. Brine yo chicken. 30 minutes max, 10 minutes at least.
2. Turn on a 4qt pot of water, enough to boil your pasta in add the salt.
3. Mix the first four ingredients of the sauce and set aside, don't worry if it doesn't emulsify no one cares.
4. Heat the tbsp of oil in an 8 or 10 inch skillet over medium heat, when it starts to shimmer drop in the onions. Sizzly goodness. Mmm.
5. When they start to look translucent drop in the garlic. Saute! You smell that? Good. Don't be burnin' no garlic now.
6. Is your pasta water boiling?? Add your pasta to it!!
7. Drain the chicken and add it to the skillet. Lower the heat a tiiiiny bit so you don't over cook the chicken.
8. When it starts to look white add the peas! PEAS!! A VEGETABLE I CAN HAVE!!
9. When it gets a nice sizzle again pour in the saucy mixture from earlier and turn the heat back up to medium so you get a nice simmer going on it.
10. Let it reduce about a third of the way down the pan, it will be fairly thick to begin with so we don't want to go too far.
11. Reserve half a cup of the pasta water just in case.
12. Drain your pasta (but don't rinse!) and put it back the pan.
13. Pour your lovely sauce over the pasta and mixymixymixy...
14. Serve immediately! With some kind of ...something. I didn't have a side dish but I suppose you could have some sort of garlic bread or something like that. More carbs. /shrug. I'll just eat more of the pasta.

So there you go. Try it if you want. I'm dubious that you do unless you are sal-sensitive like me but have at it. You can try walking in my shoes for a day or something inspiring like that. "Eat, Pray, Love" is now. "Eat, pray that you never become sal-sensitive so that you can still eat." Whatever, I'm over it. Buon appetito.