Chicken Cordon Bleu
A simple main dish that is sure to impress your dinner guests
Imagine being responsible for feeding 65 people dinner. What would you prepare? Soup? Casserole? Now imagine that this dinner needs to be nice. It is a banquet to show appreciation for some amazing people. The budget is small- less than $3 per person. Obviously, hiring a caterer is out of the question. Suddenly, you have become the caterer. What would you do?
I found myself in precisely this situation last month. In an attempt to be more involved in the community, I chose to volunteer at my local elementary school as the vice president of the parent teacher organization. Like any good entity based on service, we like to give gifts. The Christmas gift we chose to give the outstanding faculty and staff was a catered dinner. Of course, we didn't have the budget to pay someone else to make and serve the food. Luckily, I worked my way through college at a very small restaurant that specialized in delicious food. I spent many hours making and serving meals. My speciality became chicken cordon bleu (in December of 1993 I personally made more than 400 servings). So a small group of foodies-including me - asked other parents to donate ingredients. With the generous donations, we were able to create a lovely meal that received rave reviews. Plus many, many requests for the recipes. Normally, I wouldn't create an entire post about chicken cordon bleu. Mostly because it's more about assembly than precise measurements. Also, I worry when the happy diners find out how easy this meal is to create, they will be slightly less thankful for the gift. But because they were so persuasive, I agreed to share how it's done.
Step One: cut chicken to a uniform thickness.
Step Two: Pound with a meat mallet until the breast is ½” - ¼” thick. Use care not to damage the skin side of the breast.
Step Three: Place cheese on the muscle side of the breast.
Step Four: Top with ham.
Step Five: Roll up.
Repeat with the other five chicken breasts.
Step Six: Prepare the flour, egg and breadcrumbs by placing each in a separate bowl. Add about 1 Tbs. milk to the egg and mix well with a fork. (One egg will coat about 5 cordon bleu rolls)
Step Seven: Coat chicken in flour, then egg mixture then breadcrumbs. Place on baking sheet. Repeat with the other chicken roulades.
Step Eight: When all of the chicken is coated and ready for baking, place in a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 30 min. (Until the juices run clear.) Let meat rest for 10 min. before serving.
Top with cream sauce and chopped pecans (if desired).
Enjoy
*Note: a green salad, Harvest Rice Medley and fresh baked rolls make this meal amazing.
Chicken Cordon Bleu
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
6 slices ham
¼ c. flour
1 egg
3 Tbs. milk or heavy whipping cream
½ c. bread crumbs
1. Slice the chicken breasts to a uniform thickness
2. Using a meat mallet, pound the meat between ½” and ¼”
3. Place a slice of cheese on top of the pounded breast
4. Top with one slice of ham
5. Roll everything together
6. In a shallow bowl, beat the milk (or cream) and egg by hand. Set aside.
7. Place the flour and breadcrumbs in separate bowls
8. Coat the rolled up chicken in flour, dredge in egg mixture and roll in breadcrumbs.
9. Place coated chicken in baking dish.
10. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 - 30 min. (until juices run clear)
