Baked Chicken Cordon Bleu

Ohhh, how time flies!!! My youngest daughter, Cherlin, turned six last Sunday! As she requested, we had a Hannah Montana themed party for her last Saturday. Making the party decorations and favors, as well as the pabitin and her personalized piñata...

...and preparing and cooking all the food which includes 7 entrees and 4 desserts...

...wasn't easy at all. It's great that I have a friend who is an amazingly good cake decorator who made Cherlin's requested cakes and cupcakes! If not, I'm sure Cherlin could have insisted on me making her a cake and some cupcakes just like I did for Clarise's party last April. Cherlin was getting a little jealous and she said that I love Clarise more because I put more effort on Clarise's birthday! But I was able to calm her down after I explained to her that mommy is really not into cake decorating, and if she wants a better looking cake, she should go for Tita Christy's cake. :)

Hosting a party at home can really be a lot of work! It really did take a lot of time and effort for me to set up everything...and left me so tired in the end! But knowing that Cherlin had so much fun made everything worth all the effort! Hugs and kisses from her were enough to take away the tiredness I felt after the party.

But after cleaning up, I felt so exhausted and felt I needed a break...so I took a day off from blogging yesterday. But I am back now, feeling recharged and ready to share with you one of the 7 entrees I cooked for Cherlin's party which is Baked Chicken Cordon Bleu. 

Chicken Cordon Bleu is a French-inspired poultry dish that was developed by chefs in the United States in the effort to imitate stuffed meat dishes from Europe. Cordon Bleu which means "blue ribbon" in French has chicken, cheese such as Gruyere or Swiss, and prosciutto or ham as the basic ingredients. As crust, many chicken cordon bleu recipes include breadcrumbs. Chicken Cordon Bleu most often appears in a rolled presentation, with the chicken pounded flat and the ham and cheese wrapped up inside. The tightly rolled Chicken Cordon Bleu can then be dipped in breadcrumbs and fried, grilled, or baked.

Chicken Cordon Bleu has been my favorite since the first time I tried it at a wedding reception in the late 90's. I like it so much that I made it part of our wedding menu and Clarise's baptism menu as well. Though it is the baked version that I first tried, I remember that it is the fried version that I made for the first time in Christmas 1999, mainly because we didn't have an oven back then. It’s been several years since I last made Chicken Cordon Bleu, not because I don’t like it, but because it’s something I’ve done dozens of times before and I want to try so many new things. But when I was thinking of a chicken recipe for Cherlin's birthday, the ease of making Chicken Cordon Bleu inspired me to  whip some up. The best thing about it is it can be prepared ahead of time!

Chicken Cordon Bleu is certainly a dish your family will love! With the tender oven baked chicken and a soft cheesy core, you will find this chicken dish irresistible!

Ingredients:
*Makes 10 rolls

• 5 chicken breasts, split into two
• 4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 cup regular bread crumbs
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• 3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 2 Tbsp Herbes De Provence
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 5 Tbsp olive oil
• 10 thick slices deli ham (or 20 thin slices)
• 10 slices Swiss cheese
•  salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Melt butter in a bowl and mix with olive oil. Set aside.

2. Mix regular and panko bread crumbs with Parmesan cheese, herbes de provence, and 2 tsp garlic powder. Set aside. 

3. Wash and clean chicken breasts. Pat dry and cut each breast into two pieces. 

4. Place a chicken piece on a cutting board. Lay a plastic wrap over the chicken piece and pound with a mallet to about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness. Be sure not to pound too hard because the meat may tear or create holes. Do the same thing with all the chicken pieces.

5. Season each chicken piece with a bit of salt/pepper and the remaining 2 tsp garlic powder. Be careful not to over salt the chicken as it is quite thin and the cheese and ham are also salty.

6. Take a chicken piece and place a slice of ham and a slice of cheese. I used very thin ham so I put 2 slices.

7. Roll chicken, making sure you tuck the sides in as much as possible to prevent the cheese from oozing out too much while baking. Secure the roll with toothpicks.

8. Dip each chicken roll into the melted butter and olive oil mixture, then roll it in the breadcrumbs and Parmesan mixture. Make sure all the sides are well coated. 

9. Place in a casserole dish or plate.  Place in the refrigerator for at least an hour to ensure that the breadcrumbs stay put on the chicken.

10. Preheat oven to 375F. When ready to bake, place each chicken roll on a rack on a dripping pan, making sure you don't overcrowd them.
11. Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until no longer pink in the middle. The time depends on how thinly you pounded the chicken. 
12. Remove from oven and allow to cool down a little. Slice and serve with rice, bread rolls or salad.

 

* I made a sauce for it using about a cup of drippings, milk, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, salt, pepper, herbes de provence and cornstarch to thicken the sauce...but I'm so sorry I wasn't able to take note of the exact measurements. :)