Chocolat Dinner

For our last holiday before baby arrives, we celebrated Valentine's Day with a decadent Chocolat Dinner.  It was amazing!

For dinner we had Armande's Birthday Choc Au Vin, Chocolate Covered Strawberries, Vianne's Spiced Hot Chocolate, and Chocolaterie Maya Chocolate Truffles.

Armande's Birthday Choc Au Vin 

I found this recipe here and changed it a bit based on what our grocery store had.

Ingredients:

4 strips of bacon cut into small pieces

4 chicken thighs

3 stalks of celery
1 teaspoon of onion powder

3 cloves of garlic, sliced thin
3 tablespoons of Cognac
2 cups of Malbec
2 cups of Chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon of thyme
3 tablespoons of tomato paste
2 tablespoons of flour
1/2 pound of Crimini mushrooms, quartered
1/2 pound of Shitake mushrooms
2oz Dark Chocolate (80+ percent Cacao)
Parsley as garnish
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
1. In a large pot, fry the bacon over medium heat until the fat has rendered but before it gets crispy.  Remove the bacon with tongs and place on a paper towel lined plate.
2. Place chicken thighs skin side down for 6 minutes until golden brown and then flip until the other side is lightly browned, about four minutes.  Transfer to a plate
3.  Remove 2 tablespoons of fate and place in a small bowl.
4. Add onion powder, celery and garlic and cook until soft.
5. Add Cognac to deglaze the pan, allow most of the liquid to evaporate.
6. Add Malbec, chicken stock, bay leaf, thyme, and tomato paste.
7. Return the bacon and chicken to the pan and turn a few times to make sure the chicken is well coated. Cover with the lid slightly askew (so steam can escape) and simmer on medium low heat for 35minutes (until chicken is tender).
8. Transfer chicken to a plate and cover with foil.
9. Add flour to the fat and stir together, set aside.

10. Add mushrooms to the pot and turn the heat back up to medium and simmer uncovered for fifteen minutes.
11. Add a few tablespoon of the sauce to the fat/flour mixture.  Mix together until it makes a thick roux.
12. Add roux back into the sauce mixture which will thicken it up a bit.
13. Add salt and pepper to taste
14. Add baking chocolate and add the chicken back in and serve with some parsley.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries
We got these from the grocery store and boy were they tasty!

Vianne's Spiced Hot Chocolate 
I found this recipe here which is actually from the author of the book "Chocolat."

Ingredients:
1 and 2/3 cups of milk
1/2 of a vanilla bean, cut in half lengthwise
1/2 of a cinnamon stick
1 hot red chile, stemmed, halved, seeded
3oz of bittersweet (70%) chocolate
Whipped cream and chocolate chips
A little nip of Cognac if you are not pregnant

Directions: 
1. Place the milk in a saucepan, add vanilla bean, cinnamon stick, and chile and bring to a simmer for one minute.  
2. Break the chocolate into pieces and whisk it until it melts. (we tried to grate it.... and it was ineffective, just break into small pieces)
3. Take off heat and allow to infuse for 10 minutes, then remove the vanilla, cinnamon, and chile.  Return to heat and bring back to a simmer.  
4. Transfer to a mug and serve with whipped cream, chocolate chips, and cognac (optional)

*this drink was fabulously tasty!!

Chocolaterie Maya Chocolate Truffles
In our "Try the World" box we got, we got a box of Truffettes de France and boy, were they perfect for this dinner!  They were very rich without being extremely sweet. 

Tim also got me some sparkling juice and made up a label so I wouldn't feel left out!

We had a great dinner and a romantic date night.  It was a nice way to focus on each other before the little lady joins us.