On Thursday, I went to the refrigerator to do an inventory in preparation for the Saturday shopping. I found a package of ham leftover from the prior Saturday lunch salad. Usually during the week it would be consumed for a lunch. However, this week we had a lot of leftovers that were being use for lunches. Plus I had a couple of lunches out. This ham was coming to the end of its shelf life. What to do with it.
While taking stock of the refrigerator drawer, I saw the block of Gruyere cheese from Costco I recently started working on. Inspiration. Ham. Gruyere cheese. What does that say to you? I am sure it says the same thing it said to me. Cordon Bleu.
What? That is not the first thing that came to mind? What? You don't even know what Cordon Bleu is?
Ah, Grasshopper let me educate you. Cordon Bleu is a chicken breast that has been flattened into a cutlet. It is filled with ham and cheese, folded over, breaded, fried, and then baked. You end up with piece of chicken that has a crunchy outside like fried chicken and a ham and melted cheese center. Now the fact that I have never made Cordon Bleu even once in my 70+ years of life, probably only ate it once or twice, have usually made a hash of things when I try to bread and fry them, were not going to dissuade me. I am on this creative cooking roll and this was a challenge I was ready to tackle.
Stage One - Preparing the chicken cutlet for the folding and breading
What this picture does not show is that I had a couple of cutlets that were split on one end. I had visions of molten cheese escaping into the frying pan. But I folded them and they pretty much retained their shape.
Breading
At this moment my confidence level on the outcome was a bit shaky. It was really going to depend on my success getting them into the frying pan, flipping them, and getting them out.
Frying
Eureka! All were fried for two minutes on a side with barely a speck of cheese leakage. Then it was on a rack on a baking sheet and into a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes or until 160 degrees internal temperature.
Finished Product
Out of the oven, nearly Cordon Bleu perfection. They tasted great.
Of course, I forgot to take a picture of cutting through the finished product showing the wonderful layers of chicken, ham, and melted cheese.
Sigh.
2 comments:
That was one of my favorite dishes when I was a kid! So 10-year-old me says yum.
that does look delicious!
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