Chicken Cordon Bleu

Hey guys!!!  It is 2 days before I turn 39.  This is NOT easy.  My husband is concerned already about a year from now when I am about to turn 40.  He is sure we will be spending it in my padded cell.  We might be, I mean, might as well bring 40 in, in a memorable way. 

Anyway, this Chicken Cordon Bleu is so easy.  It is one of the first meals my husband cooked for me.  It is a favorite of me, Cody and George.  We use to have it on special occasions mostly.  We used to make it the "real" way.  Pound the chicken thin, lay the meat and cheese on top, roll it up, blah, blah blah.  Cody would LOVE for George to double Ziploc the chicken, let him put a newspaper on the kitchen floor and whack at it with the meat mallet.  Ya know, a boy with permission to hammer stuff until it is paper thin?  Yea, loved that.   However, recently we started doing it this way, just because it seemed easier and less time consuming.  You might have to use your fingers to make the opening a bit wider, but I promise it works beautifully.  As long as you seal up those ands well with flour, egg and breadcrumbs, it is all good!  We love it and hope you do too.  As you can see it is gorgeous AND delicious. 

Now these ARE fried for a minute.  They in NO way are greasy.  You just have to brown up that breading and we prefer doing it the old fashioned way.  We don't eat this often so I don't mind frying and then baking them off.  If you don't roll like that, you can try just baking them all the way, but I have no idea how they will come out.  We have always used regular dried Italian seasoned breadcrumbs, but this time we used seasoned panko and loved it!!

I have written this out, perhaps in a bit of an unconventional way.  All of the ingredients are in BOLD PURPLE lettering.  Maybe I should change it to red so you can see it better.  Ok, done, it is now bold and red.  Anyhoodle, enjoy this Chicken Cordon Bleu made easy!

Here is what you will need:
6 large chicken breasts (boneless and skinless)
6 slices Swiss cheese
12 thin slices of ham

Before anything else, make your meat and cheese rolls.  Sandwich your cheese between 2 slices of ham, roll into a tight log.  Do this with all of the meat and cheese so that you have 6 meat/cheese rolls.  Set aside and prepare chicken.

Take your chicken and stand it on end, place a long thin knife on top and pierce all the way to the bottom, in the center of the chicken.  When you reach the bottom rotate your knife, making the whole big enough for the rolls to slide into.  Repeat with all chicken, slide 1 roll into the center of each and place on a platter.

Now to dredge the chicken and prepare for frying. 

Shallow Bowl #1 - Combine 2 cups flour, 1 tbsp garlic powder, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper
Shallow Bowl # 2 - beat 4 eggs well.
Shallow Bowl # 3- 3 cups bread crumbs (seasoned panko OR regular dry Italian seasoned)

Cover chicken in flour mixture completely, dip into egg mixture and pay special attention to the ends where the ham and cheese can be seen since you will want that sealed well with bread crumbs.  Then cover heavily in bread crumbs.  Set aside until all are done. 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  In a high sided skillet, add in 2 cups of oil (your choice), when the oil is ready (toss a bit of flour in, if it sizzles it is read) place 1 or 2 pieces of chicken into the oil and fry only long enough to brown it.  We aren't cooking it all the way through, just beautifully browning our chicken, about 2-3 minutes on each side.  Do this over a medium heat as to not burn the chicken.  Place until parchment lined baking sheet.  Repeat with all pieces of chicken.

Place in the oven for 45-60 minutes, depending on the size of your chicken breasts. 

When they are done, allow to rest 10 minutes before serving!!!

We almost always serve this with asparagas or green beans.  Sometimes a little side of pasta.  You do what you want, just make sure you do it soon!!

Your "my GOD why is turning 29..eerr 39, so difficult"chefwannabe

 

PS.  By the time you read this I will have turned 39.  My life will be OVER. LOL