April 4: National Chicken Cordon Bleu Day

Cooked and ready to eat!

I have never had chicken cordon bleu. It sounds much too fancy of a dish to cook at home, except I just did. For some reason I thought chicken cordon bleu involved bacon, but then I found out it involves ham. But I guess ham and bacon are pretty close as they are both from a pig. Anyways, this is a pretty simple recipe.

These are some words I brainstormed as to how I would describe my first time trying chicken cordon bleu:
- fancy
- exquisite
- expensive tasting
- savory
- rich
- smells amazing
- fit for royalty

Ready to cook!

JazzyJ's Homemade Simple Chicken Cordon Bleu Recipe:

(Makes 6 serving)

Ingredients:
- 6 skinless and boneless chicken breasts
- 6 pieces of cheese (I used Swiss cheese but you can use any type, cheese sticks also work well apparently)
- 6 slices ham
- 3/4 cup butter
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- various seasonings (I used garlic powder, oregano, and rosemary)

I read that it is tasty to put in a can of cream of chicken soup in the dish you cook the chicken in, but I didn't have any cream of chicken soup.

 

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Note: You can pound the chicken out flat and then add the cheese and ham and roll it up. However, this is what I did:
2. Cut the chicken breasts in half lengthwise so you have two thin pieces of meat. Roll both sides in a mixture of melted butter and chosen seasonings. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top of one side and lay that side face down. Add one slice cheese and one slice ham on top.
3. Roll the other thin slice of chicken breast in butter and lay on top of the ham and cheese so you have a meat sandwich. Sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs. Add several toothpicks to keep the meat sandwich from falling apart.
4. Repeat until every piece of chicken is made into a meat sandwich. Put in a baking dish with any extra butter sauce you may have. 
5. Cook approximately 45 minutes, or until chicken is cooked thoroughly.
6. Smell and smell and smell! (Seriously, it smells soooo good!)

Note: Since you are handling raw meat, make sure you wash your hands and work area well. I managed to keep one hand "raw meaty" and the other hand clean. The clean hand was chosen to be my left hand, and lefty had the whole responsibility of taking pictures and of handling everything else. I am not left handed. That was a mistake. But I managed to avoid dropping the phone on the raw chicken so that was a success.

I would make this again. In a heart beat. It was pretty simple and the results were fantastic. Men - take note: This would seriously impress your girlfriend if you cooked this up for her! ;)