Chicken Cordon Bleu

Chicken Cordon Bleu is a relatively simple-to-prepare French classic. There are a million variations to be found in cookbooks and online. In pursuit of a recipe that wasn't too breadcrumb-happy and involved baking (not frying) the chicken, we ended up combining two favorites and coming up with our own take! The sauce is very thick, but a nice way to top it all off.

Our combination of a hot AllRecipes chicken dish and a version from our Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook (loose pages tucked in its 30 year old binding are evidence of how loved this book is in our kitchen)....

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

Salt & pepper

8 slices Swiss cheese

4 slices cooked ham (prosciutto is used for the classic version of this dish)

2 eggs

4 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon paprika

4 tablespoons butter

1/8 cup breadcrumbs

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tbsp lemon juice

• Pound each chicken breast into 1/4 inch thickness. Combine flour and paprika on a large plate.
• Put eggs in bowl and beat with fork (as if you were making scrambled eggs) to make egg wash. Dip chicken in egg wash and then coat with flour.
• Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.
• Place 1 cheese slice (use half if a full slice won't fit) and 1 ham slice on top of each chicken breast. Roll up each breast and secure with a toothpick.
• Melt butter in 7 x 11 inch baking dish.
• Place chicken breasts in baking dish and sprinkle chicken lightly with breadcrumbs.
• Bake for 30 - 35 minutes in 350 F oven, or until chicken is cooked thoroughly (no longer pink). Remove from oven. Place a little bit of Swiss cheese on top of each breast, and then return chicken to oven until cheese melts (3 - 5 minutes). Remove toothpicks.
• Sauce: Combine soup, sour cream, and lemon juice in a small pot. Heat, stirring often.

Note: the chicken might look a little nicer if you increase the heat right before putting the cheese on - perhaps broil for a minute. Or, sprinkle a little more paprika on before adding the cheese, just to add more color. We'll try it next time!

Rolled chicken breasts before cooking.

Use a few toothpicks to make sure they don't unfasten themselves in the oven.