Brine & Dine

Lately, I haven't really had time to relax at home... I set a weight-loss/tone-up goal for August, and I've been sweating my life at the gym after work almost everyday of the week which most often results in me passing out once I get out of the shower- hence no cooking or blogging! Phew!

But I MUST, blog about my most recent kitchen success story that happened over a barbecue patio get-together at my friend Maggie's. I've been friends with Maggie since the 7th grade, and she's one of my friends who love to cook/bake. She actually won one of the categories at a local cupcake competition in April.

I've been meaning to try her "savory" sangria (tomato, basil, white wine), and since we're always up for anything that gives us an excuse to cook/entertain- we thought of gathering a few old friends for a casual cookout to kick off the summer. Maggie, being an infamously fabulous hostess that she is, whipped up not only her sangria but also a spicy peanut butter noodle dish-- and not to mention a perfectly juicy burgers!

Well as for me, I wanted to utilize what was on sale at the store and chicken drumsticks kept popping up in the ads so I thought to make barbecue drumsticks. But, when I got to the stores around 9pm after my daily workout no drumsticks were found anywhere but only mounds of chicken thighs. I picked those up, and also some sweet corn (only 18cents!) to make a roasted summer salsa to go along with barbecued chicken thighs.

After reading about stories of brining, and how much of a difference it makes in dishes- I had to try it. I found an easy brine recipe here, by Tyler Florence. On the same page there is a recipe for a barbecue sauce, but since I'm making the corn salsa I wanted to find a chipotle barbecue sauce recipe. And lo and behold, the great TasteSpotting came in so handy and led me to this awesome raspberry chipotle barbecue sauce recipe! The only tweaking I made was to use the whole small can of chipotle peppers to give it an extra kick.
The verdict? The brine kept my chicken thighs extremely juicy and flavorful while the barbecue sauce kept it tangy and finger-lickin' good! I made the extra batch of chicken in the oven over at my mom's for my sisters and they were equally delicious. I've officially become a brine convert, and I fully believe in all of its delicious power!