Chicken Cordon Bleu

ChickenCordonBleuVertbfLOOr «Suprèmes de Volaille au Fromage» from my trusty 36 year old book ‘French Cooking.’ In truth, I mixed the recipe up a bit with one I found on foodnetwork.com – I liked the baking in place of pan frying; and I liked the use of olive oil in the spiced Panko to facilitate browning in the oven. I used 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, which I pound out in a plastic bag with my trusty meat mallet; but have, in the past, used boneless chicken thighs as well. When using thighs, it takes 2 to make one bundle – hence my college-age name for this dish ‘Blue Crotch of Chicken.’

I had some prosciutto left over from the package, and some pine nuts threatening to get old on me, so served this with ‘Sizzled Green Beans with Crispy Prosciutto and Pine Nuts’ and buttermilk potato salad to make a very nice dinner, thank you very much.

INGREDIENTS
•2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
•4 thin slices Prosciutto – or thin sliced ham
03ChickenBowlbfLO•8 thin slices Gruyère or Swiss cheese – I am tempted to mix it up a bit next time and do half and half Gruyère and Provolone
•1/4 cup flour
•1 cup Panko bread crumbs
•1 teaspoon olive oil
•1 egg
•1 tsp water

Preheat oven to 350º. Using the flat side of a meat mallet, pound the chicken to 1/4-inch thickness – you should put the chicken in between two sheets of plastic wrap or – since I pulled our from the freezer where I’d stashed them in single-dinner freezer bags – pound them out, one at a time, in the bag. Lay 2 slices of cheese on each breast, followed by 2 slices of Prosciutto, and 2 more of cheese; leaving a 1/2-inch margin on all sides to help seal the roll. Tuck in the sides of the breast and roll up tight like a jellyroll. Squeeze the log gently to seal.

Season the flour with salt and pepper; spread out on waxed paper or in a flat dish. Mix the Panko with salt, pepper, any other herbs you like, and oil. Beat the egg and water together.

Lightly dust the chicken with flour, then dip in the egg mixture. Gently coat in the bread crumbs. Carefully transfer the roulades to a baking pan and bake for about 35 minutes until browned and cooked through.

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