Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Chicken cordon bleu




Lesson learned – I won’t bone chicken legs again any time soon. It’s hard to do even though I’ve done it many times before. But, legs was what we had. The results were fine. I’ve written the recipe using thighs, ‘cause y’all ain’t gonna be bonin’ no legs.

A few days ago one of our favorite culinary companions at blogspot, Jenn, did a recipe for chicken cordon bleu cooked on her grill. That was my inspiration, even though I had no chicken breasts. If breast meat is what’s going to do it for you, go to her blog (click on her name above).

As a bonus, I include a pic of a casserole made from Swiss chard stems (from the garden). I’ve always known the stems are edible but usually threw them out. We have a cookbook by Italian guru Marcella Hazan. The stems are washed, peeled a bit if they are thick, boiled for 10 minutes, then combined with cheese and a few other do-dahs, then baked at 400 for 15 minutes. It was quite delicious. I won’t throw the stems out anymore.



Chicken cordon bleu
4 pieces boneless chicken thighs (skin on, as is my preference)
Deli ham slices
Cheese, your favorite kind
Black pepper
Dried tarragon
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter

I brined the chicken for several hours and then rinsed it well. Wrap a piece of cheese in a ham slice and roll the chicken around it. Fasten it together with a toothpick.

Season both sides with tarragon and black pepper (and of course salt if you are disobedient and don’t brine). Heat 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter in a big skillet over medium-high heat (5 on my 1-10 dial). Brown the skin side for 3-4 minutes. Turn the chicken over and reduce the heat by a notch or two. Cover the pan and cook until done, 10-12 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and let rest 5 minutes before serving.

2 comments:

Pam said...

Ummm! I love chicken cordon bleu and haven't made it in a good while. So, I'll give this a try and there will be no leg bonin' going on here! Unique thing with the Swiss chard stems and I will quit throwing them away! Thanks for the good post!

Unknown said...

Thank you for the kind words, my friend! They look like they turned out wonderfully! I actually like that you skipped the breading step...it makes it is easy to put together that way!
I LOVE the look of the casserole too...very good to know that you can use the whole thing..seems like such a waste when we through away stems and leaves!!

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