Chicken Cordon Bleu

I've never been a really huge fan of Chicken Cordon Bleu, probably because the only time I've had it has been of the frozen variety, and most likely cooked in the microwave. However, Brent had been getting after me to make Chicken Cordon Bleu for awhile now. So I finally caved and decided to try my hand at it. I didn't think I'd be satisfied with a simple chicken with ham and swiss cheese, so I looked around on a few sites and settled on adapting a recipe of Tyler Florence's from Food Network's website. The combination of prosciutto and Gruyere cheese, as well as a herbed bread crumb crust really takes this recipe up a notch.

Chicken Cordon Blue
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 8 thing slices of prosciutto
- 1/2 cup Gruyere, grated
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
- Salt and Pepper
- 1 cup regular or panko bread crumbs
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 2 eggs, beaten

Lay the chicken breasts between 2 pieces of plastic wrap or wax paper. Pound to 1/4 inch thickness with a meat mallet. Remove top sheet of wrap. Lay 2 slices of prosciutto on chicken, sprinkle a quarter of the cheese over the prosciutto. Tuck in the sides of the chicken and roll up tightly. Seal both ends tight to form a nice log (this part takes some practice and is hard to explain).

Season the flour with salt and pepper. Mix the bread crumbs with the thyme, garlic, salt, pepper and melted butter.

Dust the chicken with the flour, dip in the egg, and coat in bread crumbs. Place on rack on baking pan. Bake for 20 - 25 mimnutes until browned and cooked through. I served it with sauteed Swiss Chard and a Cauliflower Bake.


These were awesome the next day too, and I will definitely make them again.