Lasagna Cordon Bleu

 Happy Spring!  It finally feels like spring!  I shouldn't speak up so fast, it could be snowing tomorrow, but right now....awesome!

This is a recipe my husband has been wanting me to work up for awhile now.  This is the first recipe I have made since losing my mom.  I think she brought me good luck, it was amazing.  He told me what he was thinking, I wrote down a tentative recipe, and nailed it.  I am going to make it again this week, because, well, it was THAT awesome.  Have you ever put food in your mouth that made you close your eyes and just soak it in?  This is that food.  I swear.

This seems like a bit of a hassle but it really isn't, I just wanted to be as thorough as possible for any new cooks wanting to try it.

Did I mention it felt awesome to be back in the kitchen?  Thank you ALL for your private messages, emails, tweets, etc, they made my heart joyful, and thankful.  I am so blessed to call you all my friends.  Enjoy this lasagna, and if you make it, tweet me, post it on Facebook, tag me in your Instagram photos, all of it!

Did I mention to NOT skip the topping?  The crunchy, delicious, almost just want to eat it off the whole thing, crunchy top.  YES!!!!


2 large chicken breasts
1 lb thin sliced deli ham
1/2 box of lasagna noodles
16 ounces grated Swiss cheese
4 tbsp. butter
4 tbsp. flour
4 cups half and half
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup bread crumbs
4 tbsp. melted butter

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray 9x13 pan with nonstick spray or butter it and set aside.  In a medium pot, poach chicken breasts.  If you have leftover chicken or want to roast it, go for it, but I poached mine.  When they are done, remove from water and set aside to cool.  Take your deli meat and give it a slice, into strips.  No science here, I just cut mine all at the same time into smaller pieces, 3 or 4 cuts top to bottom and it was perfect.   When the chicken cools at some point during this process, just shred it. 

Cook your lasagna noodles.  Just follow package directions, you will only need about 9 noodles.  Make them all, and let your husband use the rest for buttered noodles.  (yes, I am a fabulous wife) Drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking and to be able to handle them without visiting a burn unit.

Time for that cheese sauce!  In a large-ish pot, melt your butter, add flour and stir to let the flour cook for a minute or two.  Slowly whisk in your half and half.  When it begins to boil, add in HALF of your grated cheese.  Stir until melted and thickened.  Now, set that aside so we can assemble this bad boy.

Lay down 3 noodles to cover the bottom, now add 1/3 of your cheese sauce, half of your chicken and half of your ham.  Just cover it evenly.  Now take 1/3 of your remaining shredded Swiss and sprinkle that over it all, then back to the noodles.  Rinse and repeat.  When you put your next layer of noodles on (the last layer)  you should have a bit of your cheese sauce and shredded cheese left.  Now STOP.

In a small bowl melt your 4 tbsp. butter.  When it is melted and slightly cooled, add in bread crumbs and remaining shredded cheese.

To finish the top, pour and spread over the remaining cheese sauce, and then sprinkle buttered breadcrumb/cheese mixture on top.  Trust me on this one.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees, then 15 more minutes at 375.  Perfection.  Just, perfect perfection.  If you love Chicken Cordon Bleu, and you love pasta, this might be your most perfect culinary dream!

PS. Excuse these photos.  I used my phone, it is a long story but, back to regular photos next time!

ENJOY!

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Hey guys!!!  It is 2 days before I turn 39.  This is NOT easy.  My husband is concerned already about a year from now when I am about to turn 40.  He is sure we will be spending it in my padded cell.  We might be, I mean, might as well bring 40 in, in a memorable way. 

Anyway, this Chicken Cordon Bleu is so easy.  It is one of the first meals my husband cooked for me.  It is a favorite of me, Cody and George.  We use to have it on special occasions mostly.  We used to make it the "real" way.  Pound the chicken thin, lay the meat and cheese on top, roll it up, blah, blah blah.  Cody would LOVE for George to double Ziploc the chicken, let him put a newspaper on the kitchen floor and whack at it with the meat mallet.  Ya know, a boy with permission to hammer stuff until it is paper thin?  Yea, loved that.   However, recently we started doing it this way, just because it seemed easier and less time consuming.  You might have to use your fingers to make the opening a bit wider, but I promise it works beautifully.  As long as you seal up those ands well with flour, egg and breadcrumbs, it is all good!  We love it and hope you do too.  As you can see it is gorgeous AND delicious. 

Now these ARE fried for a minute.  They in NO way are greasy.  You just have to brown up that breading and we prefer doing it the old fashioned way.  We don't eat this often so I don't mind frying and then baking them off.  If you don't roll like that, you can try just baking them all the way, but I have no idea how they will come out.  We have always used regular dried Italian seasoned breadcrumbs, but this time we used seasoned panko and loved it!!

I have written this out, perhaps in a bit of an unconventional way.  All of the ingredients are in BOLD PURPLE lettering.  Maybe I should change it to red so you can see it better.  Ok, done, it is now bold and red.  Anyhoodle, enjoy this Chicken Cordon Bleu made easy!

Here is what you will need:
6 large chicken breasts (boneless and skinless)
6 slices Swiss cheese
12 thin slices of ham

Before anything else, make your meat and cheese rolls.  Sandwich your cheese between 2 slices of ham, roll into a tight log.  Do this with all of the meat and cheese so that you have 6 meat/cheese rolls.  Set aside and prepare chicken.

Take your chicken and stand it on end, place a long thin knife on top and pierce all the way to the bottom, in the center of the chicken.  When you reach the bottom rotate your knife, making the whole big enough for the rolls to slide into.  Repeat with all chicken, slide 1 roll into the center of each and place on a platter.

Now to dredge the chicken and prepare for frying. 

Shallow Bowl #1 - Combine 2 cups flour, 1 tbsp garlic powder, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper
Shallow Bowl # 2 - beat 4 eggs well.
Shallow Bowl # 3- 3 cups bread crumbs (seasoned panko OR regular dry Italian seasoned)

Cover chicken in flour mixture completely, dip into egg mixture and pay special attention to the ends where the ham and cheese can be seen since you will want that sealed well with bread crumbs.  Then cover heavily in bread crumbs.  Set aside until all are done. 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  In a high sided skillet, add in 2 cups of oil (your choice), when the oil is ready (toss a bit of flour in, if it sizzles it is read) place 1 or 2 pieces of chicken into the oil and fry only long enough to brown it.  We aren't cooking it all the way through, just beautifully browning our chicken, about 2-3 minutes on each side.  Do this over a medium heat as to not burn the chicken.  Place until parchment lined baking sheet.  Repeat with all pieces of chicken.

Place in the oven for 45-60 minutes, depending on the size of your chicken breasts. 

When they are done, allow to rest 10 minutes before serving!!!

We almost always serve this with asparagas or green beans.  Sometimes a little side of pasta.  You do what you want, just make sure you do it soon!!

Your "my GOD why is turning 29..eerr 39, so difficult"chefwannabe

 

PS.  By the time you read this I will have turned 39.  My life will be OVER. LOL