Chicken Cordon Bleu-ish Dish

My husband loves Chicken Cordon Bleu. LOVES IT. When we got married he insisted that I learn how to make his mom's recipe because it was the best he'd ever had. Cool, right? Wrong. I could barely boil water without catching something on fire let alone master a dish as well as one's mother. It was a bad idea.

So, 3 months after I became the proud Mrs P, his birthday arrived. We had never spent a birthday together at that point. We had only met 10 months previously...got engaged after 4 months, married 3 months later. We work fast...it's how we roll.  Anywho, I was really stoked to master my mother-in-law's famous Chicken Cordon Bleu for his birthday meal. I followed directions perfectly, made a HUGE disaster in the kitchen, and served up what appeared to be a beautiful dish.

I'm not really certain what happened between my preparing the dish and eating it, but I do know that we both ended up with food poisoning. I poisoned my new husband with the first birthday meal I had ever prepared for him. He was so lucky to have me as his wife, don't you think?  I have since improved, but he has yet to let me live that down.

OK, so...six years later and I'm STILL trying to come up with a Chicken Cordon Bleu that he'll eat. I think I may have mastered it. Finally.

Here's what I did.

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts (pounded until they were practically transparent), a cheapie pkg of thinly sliced ham, butter, flour (1/4cup), salt, pepper, olive oil, milk, Farfale pasta, 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese & fresh parsley.

Oh, and some white wine. Whichever you like. I've been liking Fish Eye lately. It's cheap...and it's yummy. And it's boxed. My sister-in-law tells me that I'm turning into my 80-something year old grandfather because I drink boxed wine. She still loves me though.

For this recipe I used my lovely Fish Eye Chardonnay. About a cup.

OK, so I took my flattened out chicken breast...

...layed some slices of ham on it.

 Then I rolled it up.

Secure it with a toothpick. 

In a skillet, heat up about 2 Tbsp of olive oil and 2 Tbsp of butter.

Season the chicken (S&P) and place it in the skillet.

I cooked mine for about 6 minutes on each side. They should look something like this.

I then removed them from the pan and put them in a 350 degree oven while I made the sauce.

Keep all the chicken goodness in the pan, add a little more butter & some flour (I used just under 1/4cup) to make a roux.

Add some milk..I used 2 cups.

Then add the Swiss cheese.

Add some chopped fresh parsley.

And now the vino....

Let it simmer for about 5 minutes or so. S&P to taste.

OK, while I was making the sauce I also cooked up the pasta.

Take the chicken out of the oven and slice it up. Serve it next to the pasta and drizzle the Swiss cheese sauce over both. I love brussel sprouts, so I had those on the side.

And here it is!

It was delightful! Not your standard Chicken Cordon Bleu, but I'd say it's a pretty good version of the classic. Good stuff!