A French chef would probably beat me over the head with his meat mallet for calling this dish Chicken Cordon Bleu. But it’s my Okie version, and we like it, and I can call it whatever I want. For the chicken you’ll need:
4 chicken breasts (OK, half breasts if you want to be picky)
Thin sliced deli ham
Swiss cheese slices
Seasoned Italian bread crumbs
Grated Parmesan cheese
Panko bread crumbs (optional)
Mayonnaise
Put the chicken breasts, one at a time, in a zip lock bag and pound to flatten them out to a more uniform thickness.
Cover each breast with a thin layer of ham, and a thin layer of Swiss cheese.
Starting at the small end, roll the chicken up. You can try to hold the roll together with toothpicks, but I have no luck doing that, so I don’t even try. I just keep the seam side down. Next, I rub a coating of mayonnaise on each roll, so the coating will stick. Yes, mayonnaise.
Now I coat each roll in a mixture of 3/4 seasoned Italian bread crumbs, 1/4 Parmesan cheese. If I happen to have some Panko bread crumbs, I use about 2/3 Italian bread crumbs, 1/3 Panko in my bread crumb mix. If not, it doesn’t make any difference. It’s all good. And notice, you don’t add any seasonings or salt. There’s already plenty in all the ingredients used.
I like to bake these in this old black enameled roasting pan I have, because it make them nice and brown. I’ve used just a pyrex pan, but they don’t brown nearly as well. Coat your pan with cooking spray. Put them in the pan seam side down and bake at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes. Then use a spatula to scrape them up and flip them over. Bake another 25 minutes until they’re golden brown. While they’re baking make the sauce. Which is really gravy, but sauce sounds much more elegant, even if it’s really just gravy.
SAUCE:
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
1 can low salt chicken broth
2/3 cup milk
1-1/4 tsp granulated chicken bouillon
1/4 tsp pepper
Saute the onions in butter until they’re translucent. Add the flour and cook until the flour is starting to brown. Add the remaining ingredients and cook until thickened. Pour a little over your chicken, or maybe a lot, and you’re in business.
