The Food Matters Project: Coq au Monogamy

Here we are at week eight of the Food Matters Project, the brainchild of Sarah of 20somethingcupcakes and Kate from Cookie + Kate. Each week we all - here's the 'we' and we've grown to just over four dozen fellow foodie bloggers - cook the same recipe, from Mark Bittman's The Food Matters Cookbook, posting our interpretations and adaptations.

This week Evi + Sam of Fifth Floor Kitchen assigned us Mark's Vegetables au Vin with Coq. Here's the hosts' post. And click here to see what all the creative cookers whipped up; look in the comments section.

I have never made coq au vin, and it turned out that the night I normally whip up my Food Matters Project dinner, Sunday night, is my 12th wedding anniversary. So, I pulled out an aptly named bottle of 2007 Cabernet from the North Coast: "Monogamy - Truly Madly Deeply" and made my version for our celebration dinner.

1 eggplant, cubed
4 slices smoked bacon, sliced into 1/2" pieces
3 C cubed chicken
1 onion, sliced
2 T minced garlic
2 C organic chicken broth
2 C red wine
4 bay leaves
sprigs of fresh thyme
2 C green beans, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces
smoked sea salt
smoked paprika

Put the bacon in a deep skillet and cook until it's browned and its fat rendered. Remove the bacon from the pan and add the chicken. Cook until browned. Remove the chicken from the pan. Add a splash of olive oil to the bacon fat and add the onions, mushrooms, and eggplant. Cook for two minutes, add the garlic. Cook until the vegetables are softened. Add the stock, wine, chicken, bacon, bay leaves, 1 teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves. Bring the mixture to a boil, add the beans, reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 30 minutes. Season with smoked sea salt and smoked paprika.

Serving suggestions were for crusty bread, potatoes, and more red wine. I opted for short grain brown rice, but did pour more of the wine. This was a silky, delicious meal. Cheers and happy anniversary to me and the love of my life!