Baked Chicken Cordon Bleu – Unrolled!
Baked Chicken Cordon Bleu
Who doesn’t love to bake-fry? Since before the invention of Shake and Bake, we have been trying to replicate in the oven the perfect cooking results we get from frying in oil. This is with only good intentions as so few seem to have ever had fryers at home and it is likely that fewer still have them today. The war on fats raged and it was won leaving consumers with the idea that all fats are bad and we should just avoid every drop – go carbs go. Bye-Bye deep fryers! The stampede of low fat foods in the 90s was massive only leading to the trampled look of consumers when experts started saying maybe low fat might not be so great after all. Wait…What? Regardless, reaching fried food nirvana with bake-frying will likely never be done without sneaking in lots of fat. With simple breading techniques, the same you might use with shallow or deep frying, you can still get pretty good results in the oven. These same breading techniques that make a great schnitzel or pork chop are also used to make a great baked chicken cordon bleu!
Classically, chicken cordon bleu is simply a breaded, butterflied chicken breast that sandwiches slices of ham and cheese and is then fried in the deep fryer. A baked chicken cordon bleu need not be different minus the oil bath. I prefer my baked chicken cordon bleu to be open-faced with the ham and cheese kissed by the broiler. More on that in a second.
But first the breaded chicken. No matter if we bake or fry, the act of dredging the meat in flour, egg, then crumbs of some kind does not change. This technique works perfectly for coating just about anything. The flour, egg and crumbs can be seasoned, as can the meat. The flour and egg make the glue and crumb makes the crunch. Panko bread crumbs are all the rage, but a regular bread crumb will do.
This can be remedied to some extent in real life though, by carefully using the broiler to brown the crumb just as the chicken is done cooking. If the chicken is getting over done, I might not risk drying it out by putting it under the broiler to brown the crumb. I will take moist chicken and blonde/gold crumbs over perfectly golden brown crumbs on dried-out, leathery chicken.
But, why unroll it? Wrapping the cheese and ham in the center of chicken breast is not that difficult, but by first baking the chicken then broiling the ham and cheese on top, there is a much fuller degree of flavor being developed. I like gruyere cheese and any ham will do. Gruyere with a little roast on it and ham that has been every so gently crisped in the broiler has big taste!
To go the extra mile, I like to slather the ham with a robust honey mustard sauce. A sauce like this kicks the chicken in the feathers and makes it tasty, but also highlights the ham and gruyere so nicely. It is a great addition! A few tablespoons of a good grainy mustard and a hit of honey and you have it. It is an easy way to add flavor. When you slather the ham and then top the mustard with the cheese, you get a nice sauciness formed after broiling.
The melting of the cheese captures the honey mustard in a nice flavor pouch. This takes a good baked chicken cordon bleu and makes it a great baked chicken cordon bleu.
Here is my recipe for baked chicken cordon bleu – unrolled…
- 2 whole chicken breasts, halved and pounded into schnitzels (ideally 1/8in thick - up to a 1/4in is fine)
- Salt and Pepper
- 1-1/2 cup of panko-style or regular bread crumbs
- 5 tbsp of butter
- 1/2 cup of flour
- 2 tsp of seasoning salt like Lowery's
- 2 eggs
- 3 tbsp of your favorite grainy mustard
- 2 tbsp of honey
- 4 oz of your favorite thinly sliced ham
- 6 oz of grated gruyere or swiss cheese
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- If your butcher did not pound the chicken into schnitzels, butterfly the chicken breast halves. Place a butterflied half chicken breast between 2 pieces of parchment paper and flatten them with a meat mallet being careful not to rip any holes in the meat.
- In a medium pan, melt the butter over medium heat. When the butter stops foaming, add the bread crumbs and mix well with a wooden spoon until all the butter is absorbed. Season with salt and pepper. Cook the breadcrumbs 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Do not brown the bread crumbs.
- Pour the buttered breadcrumbs onto a large plate or pan and let cool.
- Pour the flour onto a large plate or pan about the same size as the schnitzel. Add the seasoning salt and mix well.
- Break the eggs onto a similar plate and beat with a fork.
- Place the plates in order - flour, eggs, buttered breadcrumbs.
- Working one chicken breast at a time, dredge the chicken in the flour. Shake off any excess.
- Dip the chicken in the egg mixture allowing the excess to drip off. A thin egg film is ideal.
- Dredge the chicken in the bread crumbs making sure the schnitzel is fully coated. Gently, press the bread crumbs into the schnitzel.
- Spray a baking tray with non-stick spray. Place the chicken breasts on the tray and bake 25-30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
- If the breadcrumbs are still blonde, turn the broiler on and, keeping a close eye on the color, brown the crumbs. Be careful as the broiler can burn the crumbs quickly if left unattended.
- While the chicken bakes, whisk the mustard and honey together in a small bowl. Season with a dash of black pepper.
- When the chicken is done baking, remove it from the oven and turn the oven broiler on.
- Lay slices of ham on top of each baked chicken breast. Slather the ham with a good dollop of honey mustard.
- Put a handful of cheese on top of the honey mustard sauce.
- Place the chicken back in the oven under the broiler. Broil until the ham edges get crisp and the cheese is melted, bubbly and browned to your liking.
- Serve hot!
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How do you make baked chicken cordon bleu?? Let us know all about it in the comments or on Facebook.
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