Chicken Cordon Bleu

An American Classic with Austrian Origins

Though it might be surprising to those who are familiar with my adult appetites, I wasn’t a very adventurous eater as a child. Don’t get me wrong, I loved to eat, and that’s the reason I learned to cook at an early age. But my tastes were anything but sophisticated. I was psyched to order macaroni and cheese or hot dogs off the kids’ menu while my younger brother begged my parents for shrimp or lobster. But there was one entree that always enticed me to order off of the grown-ups side of the menu: chicken cordon bleu. A chicken breast filled with ham and cheese – pure decadence. And when it was smothered with a buttery white wine sauce, rich and tangy, there was nothing yet invented by man that could compare.

It is no coincidence that chicken cordon bleu was one of the first dishes I learned to make. In fact, I made an early prototype of this dish for my first girlfriend when I was in high school. (Complete with candlelight and cloth napkins it was a very elegant affair and, needless to say, she was swept off her feet.) I continued to work on the recipe in college, even preparing it in my fraternity room kitchen. And it was one of the tricks I pulled out to impress Angela soon after we started seeing each other. She tells me that I’m not aloud to die until I teach her how to make this dish because she can’t live without it. I’m a bit hesitant to post this recipe. Don’t let her know.

I have continued to experiment and tweak the recipe over the years. This version does not require stuffing the breasts, but rather slicing them like a sandwich bun and placing slices of ham in cheese inside. Though the presentation isn’t quite as elegant, it allows you to better tenderize the chicken and also to make sure that every bite has the good stuff. I also make a lot of sauce to smother the chicken and the rice, and serve it with slices of lemon.

Ingredients:

· 5 large chicken breasts

· 1 ½ c. flour

· 1 t. white pepper or paprika (which can turn the sauce slightly orange)

· 7-8 slices of ham (sandwich cut)

· 12 oz. of Swiss cheese, sliced thin or shredded (you can use emmental or generically-labeled Swiss cheese, but gruyere is tops)

· Less than 1 stick of butter for browning

· 4 T. butter for sauce

· 1 ½ c. dry white wine

· 3 c. chicken broth

· Salt and pepper to taste

· 1 lemon, cut into slices

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Mix the flour and pepper or paprika on a wide plate. Set aside. (This will be used to dredge the chicken.)

3. Place a chicken breast on a cutting board. Using a very sharp chef’s knife or boning knife, slice the chicken breast in half like a sandwich bun, keeping the knife parallel to the cutting board. Keep the halves together.

4. Cover each breast with plastic wrap and pound gently to flatten to a uniform thickness – just over ¼ inch.

5. Place a pounded breast half in the flour. Cover with 1/5 of the ham and then 1/5 of the cheese. Cover with the breast’s other half. Hold the pieces together and turn over in the flour to dredge both sides.

6. Add 3 T. of butter to a large skillet and heat over medium to medium high heat. The butter should generously coat the bottom of the pan.

7. While the skillet is warming, prepare a few more pieces of chicken as indicated in step 4 above.

8. Add the first 2-3 prepared chicken breasts to the skillet. Brown each side for 2-3 minutes, but do not cook through. Place the browned chicken breasts in a large, shallow baking dish that is large enough to fit all of the breasts in a single layer (or use two smaller baking dishes).

9. While the first batch is browning, finish assembling the remaining breasts. Reserve the remaining flour mixture – there should be at least 4 T. left. Before starting to brown the second batch, add more butter if necessary. Repeat until all of the prepared breasts have been browned on both sides.

10. After the last piece of chicken has been removed, keep the skillet over the heat. Melt 4 T. butter, and mix in 4 T. of the flour to make a roux. Mix until the roux is smooth and beginning to brown.

11. Add the wine and quickly mix into the roux. When it begins to boil vigorously, add the broth all at once. Mix thoroughly. Continue to stir as the sauce heats up.

12. When sauce is bubbly remove from heat and pour over the breasts in the baking dish. Place the baking dish in the middle rack of the oven.

13. Cook for 20 – 30 minutes, until the sauce begins to bubble in the center of the dish.

14. Serve over rice (we prefer to use brown rice or a wild rice blend) with slice of lemon as garnish.