Chicken Cordon Bleu

Chicken Cordon Bleu represents all that is good in French Cuisine. It is a simple to prepare and easy to cook recipe that abounds with taste. This is a deep fry recipe and a good tip is to use vegetable oil or corn oil rather than olive oil because olive oil will not achieve the cooking temperature required for deep frying.

The use of herbs in this recipe is optional, I like to mix herbs with the breadcrumbs and other prefer to mix them with the cheese and ham in the center of the chicken breast. Children normally prefer this dish without herbs. You know the tastes of the people you are serving it to so amend the recipe to suit.

I was first served this dish in the Sheraton Hotel in Cairo and loved it so much that a colleague and I conspired to tempt the chef to join our organization for a much higher wage. Surely this says something special about this recipe.

Ingredients:

4 Half chicken breasts, boned and skin removed.

2 Eggs, lightly beaten.

1 cup diced ham.

3 Pieces of mozzarella cheese cut into strips of approx 2 inches by ¼ inch x ¼ inch (2 inches is 50 mm. ¼ inch is 6 mm)

1 cup breadcrumbs. (I've also seen crushed corn flakes used)

Flour

1 Tablespoon of fresh rosemary (Halve the amount if using ground)

Pinch of Paprika.

Cook in vegetable oil in a deep fryer or a skillet. (Olive oil will not achieve the temperature required for frying chicken.)

Method:

Slice a pocket into each chicken breast and insert diced ham and the strip of cheese (I like mozzarella – but you can another cheese if preferred.) Use a toothpick to hold the pocket closed.

Mix the flour with the rosemary and paprika - lay out on a plate for coating the breasts.

Have the egg in another plate and the crumbs in a third plate.

Bring the oil up to frying temperature (quite hot)

Coat the first breast with flour, shaking off the excess. – Roll it in egg and then roll it in crumbs and drop into the hot oil.

Quickly repeat the process with each of the other breasts.

Cook until brown on the outside and the cheese has melted on the inside.

This Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe serves 4.

Ideal with a glass of chilled dry Reisling or Sauvignon Blanc.


Chicken Cordon Bleu is great. Follow this link for more fried chicken recipes.