Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts were on sale this week, so I picked some up.  I was debating at trying the "Chicken Kiev" dish again, but then saw this recipe and decided it would be dinner.  It looked easy and not fussy, which was what sold me.  Plus my son and I agreed that with that chicken kiev, it would have been better with cheese.  I had some nitrate free deli ham from Trader Joe's and some Emmentaler Swiss cheese in the fridge so it was all good.  I decided not to make the sauce though it looked great - I love sauces - I could be the mother of all mother sauces, but I thought that the cheese was enough for excess calories tonight.  For sides, I had sauteed mushrooms and leftover baby potatoes from brunch yesterday.  I gave my son some mac & cheese, mushrooms and corn for his.


I started by toasting the panko.  I seasoned it with some fresh cracked pepper and Trader Joe's "Garlic salt, sea salt, roasted garlic, onion and parsley".  I put them on parchment paper on a baking sheet.

I spayed the paper and the panko with "Pam".  I set the timer for 3 minutes.  It took me 2 more times of doing that, so 9 minutes in total.  I stirred them every 3 minutes.

Next I went about stuffing the breasts.

I dried them off with paper towels and then put a slit in, like the recipe shows.  This was not as easy as it looks as the breasts I had were not ideal for this, some were thin and cut up in sloppy, uneven halves.  Pounding with a mallet would have made this easier, but also took more time and I didn't want to do it today if I didn't have to.  I cut up the cheese and got that and the ham ready.   One slice of each for every breast half.  I folded the breast and ham over the cheese

Then I tried to secure them and toothpick them keeping the ham & cheese inside, though it wasn't successful for a few pieces.  Below is the one that was the most successful.

I mixed 2 tablespoons of mayo and one teaspoon of Dijon mustard together.  I rubbed the chicken pieces with it, then rolled them in the Panko.  I had a LOT of extra panko that went in the garbage (my fault as I didn't measure it out, just dumped on the parchment).  I got another baking sheet lined with parchment and sprayed with "Pam".  I put the chicken on it.  I sprayed the pieces and put it in the fridge until ready to cook.

It was good to know that the cheese I used had a better chance of not leaking and running out as it keeps mostly intact while baking, because any other cheese would have made a mess - I am sure of that.  I baked in the oven at 350°F for 40 minutes.  Your oven may vary.  I sauteed the mushrooms during that time.

So, some of the cheese did melt out anyway, but it wasn't a mess and I half expected it would due to how I secured and cut most of the chicken pieces... I plated after I removed all the toothpicks.

I cut one in half to show how it looked.  This was not bad.  My son really enjoyed it and said it had lots of flavor and wasn't dry (I thought it was indeed a tad dry - I'd cut off 5 minutes of oven time, if I could have...AND, that sauce in the recipe would have been a good thing!).  I enjoyed the panko crumbs very much - lots of flavor, seasoned well and kept it "not boring".  The cremini mushrooms were delish too.  Nice Sunday meal - nonetheless...