Chicken Cordon Bleu

This dish tastes fancy and special and because of this I made it for my mom’s 56th birthday this week.  It has been years since I’ve made it and changed it up quite a bit, boy was I happy with the results!  The original recipe came from a friend from years ago and the sauce was adapted from my friend Annalise’s wonderful blog.

The combination of flavors, the texture, the sauce, it is so yummy!  We don’t have chicken very often so when I make it, everyone is excited.  This dish was no exception.  It had been so long since I’ve made this that the kids were a bit cautious, but they loved it too.  One nice thing about this recipe is you can prepare the chicken rolls in advance (the night before if you want too!).  This saves a lot of time when making other fancy dishes to go with this meal (if you’re so included, or just crazy like I was!)  So, next time you have something (or someone) special to celebrate give this one a try, you won’t be sorry!

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Spray a 9×13 inch dish with non stick spray.  Using a meat mallet flatten all 6 of the chicken breasts until they are 1/2-1/4 inch thick.  This can be a messy job, what I do when flattening any meat is place the meat into an emptied and rinsed out cereal or cracker bag.  The thick and durable plastic is perfect, the mallet doesn’t break through the plastic and no splashing happens!  I hope you try this technique, it is even worth emptying a full box of cereal into a different container, just so you can use the bag it came in (not that I’ve done that before…)!

Once all 6 breasts are flattened place 2 slices of ham and 2 slices of cheese on each piece of chicken.  Roll the chicken as tightly as you can (like a jelly roll) and secure it with a toothpick.

Melt the butter in a shallow bowl.  In another shallow bowl and mix bread crumbs, cheese, salt and pepper.  Dip each roll in the melted butter and then roll until completely covered in bread crumbs and cheese.  Place the chicken in a 9×13 inch pan.  Repeat with the remaining rolls.  Once all rolls are done sprinkle the remaining bread crumbs over the chicken.  At this point you can cover and refrigerate before baking (up to 24 hours) or bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes.  The rolls are ready when the bread crumbs are light brown and the cheese is melting out of the rolls.

Velvety Mushroom Sauce

This sauce is wonderful and served on top of the chicken rolls.  It really makes them pop with flavor, don’t pass on the sauce!

While the rolls are baking prepare the sauce in a medium sauce pan.  Over medium high heat melt the butter and add the mushrooms, sauté for 3-5 minutes.  Add the chicken stock, 1 cup milk, and seasonings and bring to a boil over high heat.  While the sauce is heating up whisk the remaining 1/2 cup milk and flour together in a small bowl.

Once the sauce has come to a boil whisk in the flour and milk mixture.  Whisk until the flour is dissolved and the sauce is thick.  Taste and adjust salt and pepper.  If this sauce seems too thick add milk, 1 Tbs. at a time, until desired thickness is reached.  Serve sauce over the top of the chicken rolls.