Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu

I actually don't think I've ever had Chicken Cordon Bleu before making this recipe, so I can't judge the taste against the real thing. What I can tell you is that this was very flavorful and definitely worth the whole having-to-touch-raw-chicken thing. I will tell you right now that I hate touching raw chicken, and pretty much just stood there gagging the whole time I did it for this recipe. But thankfully I persevered and ended up with this super easy delicious chicken. I found the recipe on Pinterest (of course) and the original recipe is here. I cut it down to use only two chicken breasts, and used panko bread crumbs instead of homemade ones.

Ingredients:

CHICKEN:

2 large chicken boneless skinless chicken breasts
8 slices deli ham

3/4 cup bread crumbs
1 tbsp butter, melted

10 thin slices of swiss cheese

PARMESAN-DIJON CREAM SAUCE
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1 crushed chicken bouillon cube
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
CHICKEN
1. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs and melted butter.
3. Slice the chicken breasts in half, so that you end up with four thinly sliced chicken breasts, as if you had pounded them out to be thin, not as if you had cut them into strips. I hope that makes sense.

4. Lay the cut chicken breasts in a single layer in the dish.

5. Layer each chicken breast with two slices of ham.

6. Layer the swiss cheese on top of the ham, making sure the entire chicken breast is covered.

7. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the top of the cheese.

8. Bake the chicken for 30-35 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through completely, the cheese is bubbling and the bread crumbs are golden.

SAUCE
1. In a medium saucepan, melt the 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat.
2. Stir in the flour, whisking constantly. Cook the flour/butter mixture for 1-2 minutes.
3. Slowly pour in the milk while whisking quickly.
4. Stir in the chicken bouillon granules and salt.
5. Whisk constantly over medium heat until the mixture begins to simmer and thicken, about 3-5 minutes. My sauce took about 4.
6. Once the sauce is bubbly and thickened, remove from heat and stir in the mustard, Worcestershire sauce and Parmesan cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted.

7. Keep the sauce warm until the chicken is finished baking.
8. Serve each chicken cordon bleu portion with warm sauce.

My sauce ended up being a really thick texture, and I even added some extra milk after it was done. I think it may have something to do with the type of parmesan cheese I used. It was kind of stretchy and unappealing looking, but it tasted delicious. Even Chris liked the taste of it over the chicken, and he is not the biggest mustard fan. The chicken was enjoyable, and so simple. This is definitely a recipe I would make again, because both Chris and I enjoyed it.