Real Chicken Cordon Bleu

Simple, yet profound enough to get a style of cooking named after it. This dish is EASY, and a date killer. One of my signatures.

Step 1: Step 1: Ingredients.

Chicken cordon bleu is REALLY easy. The price per serving is near pathetically cheap.

I've seen a few knockoffs on the site, and I felt obligated to post the real thing. Sorry for the lack of pics, I'm still getting the digi-cam up and running. This recipe serves one. Scale to fit your needs.

ingredients:
bread crumbs (1/4 cup should be more than enough)
eggs (at least 1, scrambled)
1 boneless skinless chicken breast
about 1/8 cup swiss cheese
2-3 slices of thin cut (chipped) deli ham
olive oil
some toothpicks
a hammer
a book

Step 2: Flattening the Chicken

So, grab a hammer. I love starting recipes like this. Then, grab a book. I suggest "the davinci code" because I think Dan Brown needs to be beaten to death with a hammer. Throw the chicken breast between 2 pieces of plastic wrap, cover with the book, and beat the hell out of the book. The chicken should be very flat, and evenly thick.

Step 3: The Innards

Lay your breasts down (I always wanted to say that) on a plate. fill the middle with the cheese, leaving 1/4 of an inch or so to the outside edge, then pile the ham in the middle. The ham will add it's flavor to the cheese, and the chicken will also flavor the cheese. Cheese is a fantastic sponge for flavors, so use it to insulate the meats from one another.

Step 4: The Wrap and the Fry

So, now we need to bind this monster.

Fold the breast in half so it's a crescent. Take your toothpicks and seal off the seams with them. You can never overdo this. Heat a skllet on medium heat, with a liberal smattering of extra virgin olive oil. Dip the loaf in the scrambled egg, being sure to coat EVERYTHING, then coat the chicken fully in bread crumbs.

preheat your oven to 450.

fry this beast for about 5 minutes to a side, to firm up the crust.

Step 5: The Bake

Throw the loaf on a baking sheet, and bake it at 450 for about 10 minutes a side. The crust should be a nice golden brown, and the cheese will probably ooze out of the ends of the roll a little bit.

Pull out the toothpicks and serve toothpick side down.

protip: sub 1/8 cup chopped broccoli flourettes for the ham and you have chicken kiev. Use a bit of marinara and some mozarella for the fillings and you have stuffed chicken parmigiana. The possibilities for stuffed chicken are damn near limitless. Let me know what you come up with.