CHICKEN CORDON BLEU LORI STYLE

I remember a time when the biggest thing in restaurants was Chicken Cordon Bleu. It was the stuff of first dates and dinner celebrations.

Recently I have had a craving for some stuffed chicken breasts so I decided to make my own.

I had to work until 6:15 so I prepared the chicken this morning before work. I worried that the coating would be soggy. It wasn’t.

Here we go with my version which is by no means traditional. There is no heavy cream sauce. It is not rolled up like many others are. It is just my version, which means easy and it turned out AWESOME.

CHICKEN CORDON BLEU LORI STYLE

CLICK HERE FOR A PRINTABLE RECIPE

Adjust the amounts according to the people you are feeding. Depending on how large the breasts are you will be able to fit in more ham and cheese.

Chicken breasts, boneless
Shaved deli ham
Sliced Swiss cheese (about 3 X 4 inches)
Greek style plain yogurt
Garlic, I used about 2 teaspoons of dried garlic granules
Pepper, 1 teaspoon but we like lots of pepper 
Panko bread crumbs
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make a slice into the side of the breast making a nice big pocket. Be careful not to go all the way through but make is as big as possible. I made the pocket considerably bigger than this.  Take 2 slices of Swiss cheese and some shaved deli ham and roll them up like a cigar. Stuff this inside the pocket you made in the chicken. It will be very full but that is okay.

Mix garlic and pepper into the Greek yogurt and then roll the chicken breasts in that mixture. Look how thick and rich that Greek yogurt is. Brilliant for cooking. Roll this in Panko bread crumbs. Take some kitchen twine and tie around the breast in about 4 places to keep that stuffing inside and the breast together.
(I tried toothpicks but they don’t close the chicken up well enough. At this point I covered it up and put it in the fridge for about 9 hours until I got home from work.)

Place chicken in a baking dish with the cut side up to help keep the cheese inside. Sprinkle lightly with olive oil. If they are not able to stand up on their own make little tin foil bundles to help prop them up.(note there are 2 plain chicken breasts in the pan for the one in the house who rolls that way) Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until lightly browned and cooked through basting with the liquid from the pan which is a mix of the olive oil and the oil released from the cheese. It adds lots of flavor and helps to brown the Panko bread crumbs.My BB Guy said this was the best chicken he has had for as long as he could remember. He was so right. It was tender, moist and tasty. I wouldn’t add any salt in the cooking process because there is enough salt in the ham and the cheese. This is good enough for company and makes family feel like you are out for dinner for that special occasion.