Chicken Cordon Bleu is a French-inspired poultry dish, although evidence suggests that Chicken Cordon Bleu was actually developed in the United States by chefs imitating other stuffed meat dishes from Europe. The name of the dish is clearly of French origin – Cordon Bleu means “blue ribbon” in French, and in French culinary tradition, the Cordon Bleu is awarded to food or chefs of particularly high quality. The European dish most similar to Chicken Cordon Bleu is Chicken Kiev, chicken stuffed with seasoned butter, dredged in bread crumbs, and fried. I rightly named my dish “Chicken Can’t Be Blue,” mainly because like a lot of dishes I encounter, a make over to either enhance, break away from the norm, or simply to slash the prep time is my task at hand. But then there’s the whole added embellishments that include a little hot spice that would awaken any mood from the depths of that shady color blue which eludes to the “can’t be blue” part.
Anyway, don’t get me wrong, I only added to this main course. It’s a classic dish for a reason. Enough said. It is a delicious entree’ on it’s own and sometimes my changes aren’t always improvements–more like “add-ons” in this case. But I am filling a tall order here and that’s cutting prep time while preserving the deliciousness of the meat, spices and cheeses. And, I must say I believe I did a bang up job. As you’ll see in the directions if you decide to give it a try, you’ll also be doing a little banging yourself.
I posted this on the web-site and I think a 10-minute meal follower be sufficiently summed it up in one word, “wow”.
Chicken Can't Be Blue
By Published: October 5, 2010
- Yield: 4 Servings
- Prep: 10 mins
Chicken Cordon Bleu is a French-inspired poultry dish, although evidence suggests that Chicken Cordon Bleu was actually developed in …
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts pounded thin
- 1 pkg. genoa salami
- 4 slices pepper jack cheese
- 4 stalks asparagus
- 1 T. spicy brown mustard
- 1 T. hot sauce
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup lemon juice fresh squeezed
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese grated
Instructions
- Season the breast cutlets with salt and onion powder and garlic. Place cheese and salami on top and in the center place the asparagus. Now roll and place in a baking dish. Repeat until you finish.
In a food processor add the mustard, hot sauce, basil, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and cheese. Blend until smooth. Use half the mixture and place on top of the chicken.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 400 for 20-30 minutes depending how thin you pounded your chicken.
Use the remaining mixture and top the chicken and serve with salad.
