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I have made this dish often but it has been a while. I’m not sure why because it is one of my favorites. As I mentioned in my ARLK YouTube video for this recipe, one of the first times I made it was for friends. We all had graduated from high school and I was off to college and two of them had enlisted in the military. I wanted to make ‘a very nice meal’ as a send off to them and that’s what I did. The dish turned out great and they loved it. We had a great time going down the high school memory lane and didn’t say good-bye until we meet again. As time passes, I catch up with them once in a while.
I had made this meal the traditional way. I pounded out the boneless-skinless chicken breast. Layered it with thin slices of ham and cheese and rolled up the chicken jelly roll style. Dip each roll in flour, egg wash and bread crumbs and cook it. Then put a nice wine mustard creamy sauce on top of it. I love this dish.
This time around I wanted to make it a little easier and just as good. I chose to put a slightly thicker sauce on top of the chicken before baking it instead of on top after it is finished. I could go either way.
Here is my version of making Chicken Cordon Bleu.
‘Chicken Cordon Bleu
Ingredients
- 4 Chicken Breast, boneless and skinless
- ½ cup Flour for dusting
- Salt and Pepper
- 2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 4 – 8 thin slices of Ham, I used Black Forest Ham from the deli
- 8 slices of Provolone or Swiss Cheese.
Sauce: #1 This is the one I use for this dish
- 4 – 6 Tbsp Classic Plain Ricotta Cheese
- 4 tsp of Brown Mustard
- Pepper
- 2 tsp Chives, chopped
- Dash of Nutmeg, if desired
Sauce: #2 More traditional
- 1 ½ Tbsp of Butter
- 1 ½ Tbsp Flour
- Salt and Pepper
- 2 Tbsp Brown Mustard
- 1 ½ cup Milk
- ¼ cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
- Salt and Pepper
- Dash of Nutmeg
Garnish: Chives and Parsley, chopped
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees
- Pound out 4 Chicken Breast. This will help to tenderize and make them evenly in size for cooking. I chose to cut each breast in half because they were large pieces and made them more into serving sizes. This is not necessary though.
- In a small shallow baking dish add in the Flour, Salt and Pepper and Garlic Powder. Mix all together.
- In a large oven proof sauté pan or cast iron pan add olive oil and heat up the pan on medium to high heat.
- Do not pat Chicken Breast dry but keep them slightly moist. Dredge each piece in the flour mixture and place in the hot pan. Cook each breast til a nice golden color, for about 5 minutes. Turn the chicken over and cook for about another 5 minutes til done. Since we pounded out the chicken breast it should not take too long.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine the Ricotta cheese, brown mustard, Pepper and Chives and mix all together until combined.
- Once chicken pieces have cooled slightly, add a piece of cheese to each piece, then add a piece or two of the ham, add about a tsp or more of the cheese mustard sauce on top of the ham and top with one or more of the cheese slices.
- Place the oven proof pan in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes til the cheese has melted and the chicken is heated through.
- Garnish with Chives and Parsley and Serve.
I paired this with Lemon Asparagus and White Rice.
If you would like to have more of a sauce over the Chicken Cordon Bleu here is a sauce you can make. The only changes I would make in baking the chicken is to bake it til the cheese has melted and drizzle the sauce over it when you take it out of the oven.
Sauce #2
- In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Add in the flour and cook for about 1 minute or more til the flour just hints at turning color.
- Slowly add in 1 cup of the milk and mustard and cook til the sauce thickens slightly.
- Add in the cheese and nutmeg and any additional milk if needed to loosen up the sauce and cook til the cheese has melted and the sauce is smooth. Taste. Add in salt and pepper if needed. Cook for one minute more.
- After the chicken has baked in the oven and the cheese has melted, drizzle the warm sauce over the chicken. Garnish with chopped Chives and Parsley.
Enjoy ☺
