Tuesdays at the Table - Chicken Cordon Bleu

Today I'm linking up with Cole at "All the Small Stuff" for Tuesdays at the Table and posting a chicken cordon bleu recipe.

In our household, my hubs and I share the cooking responsibilities as we both enjoy making a good meal.  However, my husband is a natural in this department and I am more of a recipe chef.  The hubs is really good at throwing things together that taste fabulous without so much as glancing at a cookbook.  So, Saturday he decided he wanted to make chicken cordon bleu and I agreed to be his taste tester and it was A-mazing.  I thought I'd share how he put it all together:

Serving size: 2
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25-35 minutes depending on thickness of chicken

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
6 slices of thin sliced ham (black forest works well)
1 cup of shredded swiss cheese
1 cup of panko bread crumbs
3-4 tbsp flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp of parsley
1 tbsp butter
1 cup of milk
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt and Pepper
1/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese (optional)

Directions:

Chicken:
1.  Butterfly the chicken breasts and pound out with a mallet (place plastic wrap over the chicken when doing this to avoid damaging the chicken).  Preheat oven to 350 F.

2.  Salt and pepper the inside of the chicken breasts you have just butterflied.  Lay several slices of the ham inside the chicken and cover with swiss cheese. Roll chicken and place a toothpick through the roll to hold shut.

3.  Dredge the chicken roll in the flour and shake off the excess.  Next coat it in the egg and then dip in the bread crumbs until covered and then shake of the excess.  It is good to add salt and pepper to the flour, egg, and bread crumbs for extra seasoning.

4.  Coat bottom of oven safe skillet, if possible, with canola oil and heat on medium.  Once heated, place chicken rolls in skillet and cook chicken until the bread crumbs on all sides are golden brown.  Transfer skillet to oven (if you did not use an oven safe skillet, simply transfer the chicken from the pan to a baking dish) and bake at 350 F for about 15 minutes (if the chicken breasts are abnormally small or large, you may want to adjust this time accordingly) until cooked through and cheese is melted on the inside.

Bechamel Sauce:
1.  Using a medium sized pot, place a tbsp of butter and flour in the pot on medium-low heat and stir with wooden spoon until it creates a blond roux (paste consistency-generally takes about 5-8 minutes).

2.  Whisk in 1 cup of milk (whole milk is the most tasty but for a lighter version try 2% milk) until blended.  Turn heat to medium-high until it starts to boil and then reduce to low so that sauce simmers.  Continue to whisk so that sauce starts to thicken and then add in remaining shredded swiss and cheddar cheese, a handful at a time.  Continue stirring until all of the cheese is well melted and sauce is cohesive.

Finishing touches:

Once chicken is complete, slice into rounds and drizzle the cheese sauce over the chicken.  We added asparagus (steamed and sauteed with olive oil and salt and pepper in a pan) and some basic red-skin mashed potatoes to go along with it and threw in some parsley for extra garnishment.  Enjoy!!

J