Coffee Brined Chicken

I spent the day recovering from three straight days of 4 hours or more of volleyball.  I also spent the day taking my mandatory online traffic school course.  All in all, it felt like a sick day without the nausea.  I had thrown some frozen chicken pieces in a coffee brine yesterday.  The end result was a smokey, roasty, almost caramel flavor in a very moist chicken--a winner of a recipe.

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/coffee-brined-chicken-drumsticks-10000001875773/

The recipe says to use chicken legs, but I used a half of a chicken cut into pieces and the white meat turned out great.  I had some left over arugula and chard from my last CSA box and made a quick salad with a dressing of balsamic and truffle oil.  I find that truffle oil makes any salad delicious.  Usually it's pretty expensive, but Fresh and Easy has a bottle for 6 bucks.  A steal! Now I know it doesn't use real truffle extract.  Instead, it creates the aroma using a chemical compound.   However, for salad dressing it does the trick at a fraction of the price.

Tomorrow, I will set out a plate of fruit, assorted cheeses, and vegetables.  If I have the time, i want to also make some homemade chevre.  I love an occasional night of cheese for dinner.  Decadent, but delicious!