Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Sauce -- Kidney Diet / Renal Diet

This recipe is in a series of indeterminate length on kidney-healthy foods.
The goal is to cook food that takes good, and meets the following nutritional guidelines:
<2000mg / day potassium
<1500mg / day sodium
Low to moderate protein content


Along with each recipe, I'll post the nutrition breakdown based on the USDA nutrient database.

Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Sauce

Tomatoes are on the verboten list in terms of low-potassium foods, and any sort of concentrated sauce doubly so, but spaghetti is a pretty common mid-week dinner in our house, so I tried making a sauce with a different base.

Ingredients:

• 450g roasted red pepper (5 anaheim chillies turned red, and 5 sweet Italian peppers)
• 2 large white onions
• 0.8lb grass fed beef ('cause that was how much we had)
• A lot of basil.  I estimated 1 cup of leaves
• 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon salt
• We used garlic, lemon juice, balsalmic vinegar, black pepper, and red pepper flakes to season.  I included the lemon and garlic in the nutrition table because they're the ones with potassium and sodium.

Directions:

1. Fire roast the chilies. I saw an Alton Brown comment about using a metal in-pot basket steamer placed directly over a flame, and it worked great.  Basically you want them over a flame until they looked blackened in spots, then you place them in a pot with a lid and let them steam for 15min.
2. De-seed and chop up the chillies.  Also chop up the basil and dice the onions
3. Brown the beef in 1tbspn olive oil.  Set aside.
4. Brown the garlic and onions in 1 tbspn olive oil.  Add to beef
5. Degalze the pan with the chicken broth, add the peppers and basil, then use a stick blender to puree it all.  I was not patient enough to get a fine puree.  Next time I might use a blender or food processor instead
6. Place everything in the pot back together, along with 1 tspn salt.  Simmer over low heat, and add black pepper, lemon juice, red pepper, and vinegar to taste.

This was the best thing I have made so far, but also the highest in potassium and sodium.  Definitely a sometimes food.  The salt could easily be reduced to 1/2 tspn once we're more acclimated to a low salt diet.  The balsalmic vinegar really added something.

Nutrition:
6 servings
Served over pasta (not included in nutrition totals)

Nutrient	Unit	450g  red peppers	2 large onions	1 cup basil leaves	Juice of 1 lemon	2 tblspn minced garlic	3tblspn olive oil	1tspn salt	Grass Fed Beef 0.8lb	1cp low sodium chicken broth	Total	Per Serving
Energy	kcal	598	120	6	11	9	358	0	695	38	1835	306
Protein	g	4.68	3.3	0.76	0.17	0.38	0	0	70.3	4.8	84.39	14
Total lipid (fat)	g	57.38	0.3	0.15	0.12	0.03	40.5	0	46.08	1.44	146	24
Carbohydrate, by difference	g	29.56	28.02	0.64	3.31	1.98	0	0	0	2.88	66.39	11
Fiber, total dietary	g	8.1	5.1	0.4	0.1	0.1	0	0	0	0	13.8	2
Sugars, total	g	19.26	12.72	0.07	1.21	0.06	0	0	0	0.31	33.63	6
Potassium, K	mg	868	438	71	49	24	0	0	1046	206	2702	450
Sodium, Na	mg	94	12	1	0	1	1	2325	246	72	2752	459