Pasta with chunky Tomato and onion sauce with chargrilled chicken

3 large onions (sf)
4 shallots (sf) (or another onion)
Garlic (sf)
1 leek (sf)
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (0.25 syns)
1 tin chopped tomatoes (sf)
1 tin plum tomatoes (sf)
1/2 tsp mild chilli powder (f)
1 tsp coriander (f)
1/4 tsp of xanthan gum (optional, to thicken) (f...?)

1 chicken stock cube (f)
2 tsp Schwartz chargrilled chicken seasoning (f)
3 trimmed chicken breasts (or 2 large) (f)
2 trimmed medallions of bacon (f)

2 cups wholewheat pasta (f)

Place the ground up stock cube, seasoning, chicken and bacon in a bag and cook for several hours at 62.5 degrees C.
Alternatively grind up stock cube and mix with seasoning, and coat both sides of trimmed chicken in the mix. Gently cook chicken (medium or low heat) in a frylight/nonstick pan for 10-15 minutes till done (white all the way through).

Chop garlic, onions, shallots, leek into small chunks and place in non-stick pan.



Add a splash of hot water and the bicarb of soda. This will turn the
water alkali and make the onions yellow. It may also bubble a bit. This will speed up the breakdown of the onion proteins into sugars.

Boil all water off, and let it go a bit brown. Then splash a bit more water in, and dissolve the brown stuff.

Cook a bit longer, until it's all mushy. Taste a bit with a teaspoon - it should have gone slightly sweet and will not taste like onions. The brown colour comes from the maillard reaction - proteins breaking down into sugars. This is the same reaction that makes the crispy bits of meat on the outside so nice.

Tip out the tomato juice into the pan, and then tip out the tomatoes with your fingers (mind can edges!). You can then cut the tomatoes into big chunks (and remove any skins or end-bits for fussy eaters!)

Add the chopped tomatoes, and chunks of plum tomatoes , and sprinkle in the chilli powder and coriander. Add and liquid from cooking the chicken, and any stock cube / seasoning remaining.

Turn onto a low heat and let it gently simmer for 15 minutes while boiling the pasta.

A minute before serving, add the xanthan gum and give it a stir. This will thicken the sauce a bit, and bring it together (less watery). It will also make it stick to the pasta.



Chop up the chicken and arrange few strips of bacon on top.

We split the sauce into 3, and had spare chicken for the fridge (free snacks!)

My calculations say it should be free. YMMV. Let me know if I've got anything wrong.
:)