Feed The Resistance: Hard Kombucha-Brined Chicken paired with…Luna Bay Hard Kombucha!

This week’s “Tap That” beverage of the week comes to us from Luna Bay Booch…it’s the Prickly Pear Punch Hard Kombucha!  Last time we talked with the folks at Luna Bay, I got the idea that their Kombucha would be good to use as a brine when I made chicken.  I gave it a try with the Palo Santo Blueberry Booch…and it turned out great!  So, when I heard that Tap That for this week was Prickly Pear Punch from Luna Bay, I had to do it again…this time with the Prickly Pear.  It turned out even better!

As we’ve learned from Dee over the past year or so, in pairing you go for either similar or contrasting flavors.  So, she didn’t have to work to hard to find a similar flavor.  Dee paired this one with, you guessed it…Luna Bay Prickly Pear Punch Hard Kombucha!

I can’t really link to the original recipe for this one – as I just made it up as I went along.  Here’s basically how it goes…

2 cans of Luna Bay Hard Kombucha
1/2 cup of sugar
1 Tablespoon of salt
Juice from 1 lemon (and then I just tossed the rest of the lemon into the brine)

WARNING: It’s kind of like a science experiment when you mix all of that together – everything starts foaming wildly…but it eventually calms down.

Place the chicken in the brine overnight in the fridge.
Remove the chicken from the brine and pat dry a couple hours before you cook it – after you pat it dry, put it back in the fridge, uncovered. Discard the brine.

Heat up a little olive oil in a big sauté pan.
Add the chicken, skin side down – cook for 5 minutes.
Turn the chicken over – cook for another 3 minutes.
Move the pan & chicken to a preheated (350 degree) oven…cook until internal temp reaches 165 degrees (about 20-25 minutes).