Recipe - Chicken Cordon Bleu

The French term, cordon bleu is translated as blue ribbon.  It refers to a special order of knights, instituted by Henry III of France in 1578, with the tradition of the highest order of knighthood bearing a blue ribbon.  By extension, cordon bleu has come to be associated with the highest order of food and cooking.

There are many versions of Chicken Cordon Bleu out there, all of which are pretty delicious.  I mean, how can you go wrong with a combo of chicken, ham, and Swiss cheese?  I've made it various ways through the years, but the other day, not to be outdone by the highest order of knighthood, I decided to take my game up a notch and try a more complex recipe so that I could use up some Fillo dough I had in my freezer.  I bought this a few months ago by mistake when I was really meaning to get some Puff Pastry for a recipe.  Before that time, I had never tried either. (Go HERE to see the recipe I made with Puff Pastry, Salmon Wellington).  The Fillo dough looks like this:

The Puff Pastry looks like this:

I did some Internet sleuthing and learned that Fillo dough and Puff Pastry are pretty much the same thing in the end, but getting to that end with the Fillo is much more difficult.  There's a simple reason for this.  While the Puff Pastry is all ready to use straight from the box,  Fillo dough comes in dozens of impossibly thin layers which require carefully spreading butter between each one, stacking a bunch of them together before wrapping around whatever you're using it for.

These fragile layers are prone to tearing when you separate them from the stack, let alone brushing on the butter.  Meanwhile you have to keep a damp towel over the stack of layers, or they will dry out almost immediately and crumble away to dust before your very eyes!  OK, I may be exaggerating a bit, but you should know two things.  First, I saved you the heartache of going through this process through my discovery that all you need to do is buy some lovely Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry, wrap it around your chicken, ham, and cheese, and Viola! Pop in oven.  Second, the Phyllo dough was actually very forgiving even when it tore, and when all was said and done it came out looking, and tasting, fabulous.  So for those of you up for a challenge, by all means, try the Fillo.  The rest of us will probably take the easy way out and get Puff Pastry.  Either way, this is really an elegant meal for guests, or a great family dinner anytime.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

8 Chicken Breast Fillets
4 thick slices of Ham, halved
8 slices of Swiss Cheese
1 package Puff Pastry or Fillo dough
Dijon Mustard
Melted Butter
1 packet Hollandaise Sauce mix
Salt and Pepper
Chives or other garnish

First, get the chicken ready.  You can do this one of two ways.  Either just use very small breasts, or cut big breasts down to size by slicing them right through the center.  I got 8 big fillets from 4 huge breasts.  You can also pound the chicken with a meat mallet between two pieces of plastic wrap to make it the desired thickness, but I just made sure I sliced through the middle and trimmed it to the rectangular pieces of a consistent thickness, then used the pieces I trimmed off for another purpose.  Brown these quickly in hot oil, salting and peppering on both sides.  You don't want to get them done, just quickly seared on both sides.

Place these in the fridge until ready to use.

Now prepare the ham.  I got thick-sliced ham (it actually says "ham steaks" on the label) which I sliced in half, but you could also use several layers of a thinner sliced packaged ham, or have the deli slice just the amount and thickness you want.  I got a good deal on this package a few weeks ago and had it in my freezer.

Next you should get all your ducks in a row for assembling the portions.  Because the Fillo dough dries out so fast, I didn't want to open the package until I had everything ready and a new, clean damp cloth ready to cover over it while I was working.  (By the way, the Fillo dough needs to be thawed overnight in the fridge, and the same with the Puff pastry.  You can thaw the Puff pastry a couple of hours on the counter, instead, but if you try to do this with the Fillo, it will stick together and be ruined).

Be sure to have your butter melted and ready to brush on before you open the package of dough.  Peel off one sheet at a time, covering the rest with the towel, and buttering between each layer.  Look how thin those layers are!  They're as thin as waxed paper, only much more fragile.

Using a pastry brush, spread melted butter as thin as you can on one layer at a time until you have six to eight layers.

Meanwhile, keep the remaining dough covered with a damp towel, or when you go to pick up then next layer it will probably tear from being dried out.  It happens quickly, so you have to cover it again each time you pick up a new layer to butter.

After you have buttered 6 to 8 layers, use use a pizza cutter to split the stacked layers in half.

Now add the meats and cheese.  Fold each slice of Swiss cheese in half so it will fit better and place  diagonally across the dough as shown.

Then a half slice of ham . . .

Spread a very small amount of Dijon mustard over the ham.  If you have people who generally don't like mustard, don't worry because it's such a small amount they probably won't even be able to distinguish when they eat it, unless they truly cannot tolerate any mustard at all.  If so, then by all means just skip it (at least for that person's piece, but remember where it is placed in the pan so it goes to the right person).  Next, lay a piece of chicken over the ham.

Give it another thin spread of mustard.

Now it's ready to wrap.  Bring the shortest ends in first . . .

 . . . then the longer ones. . .

. . . to make a nice little packet.

Lay these out in a greased or sprayed casserole dish, fold sides down.

Note:  If you use the Puff pastry instead, you will be able to skip all the layering of the butter and just divide the dough into 8 equal portions and wrap.

Now place in a 400 degree oven and cook for approximately 45 minutes or until browned and crispy.

I think next time I would use a bigger pan, like a cookie sheet, so that these weren't so close together.  I tested the temperature of my chicken with a quick-read thermometer, which is a good idea if you have one.  Your breasts may be thicker or thinner than mine, and you want it to read no more than 170 degrees in the center (but no less than 165) without going too long and getting them all dried out.  If you don't have a thermometer, just cut one in half and see if it's done.  Look at all those flaky layers!

While the chicken is cooking, mix up your Hollandaise sauce and have it ready, along with the rest of your food.  I have chives growing on my deck, but if you don't, you can garnish with either parsley, green onions, a sprinkle of Paprika, or nothing at all.  Serves 8.