Chicken Cordon Bleu

This meal is definitely up there as far as "favorite meals" go. Sure, the classic chicken cordon bleu is a bit out dated. Sure, this dish could get a little bland and boring. But this one is a little different. Combining ham, and swiss cheese and crispy chicken is just a good idea. But with a few of the techniques this recipe uses it really pumps up the flavor. First the breading is not just boring old flour, instead flavored bread crumbs are used in addition to paprika. Then the breaded breasts are browned in butter to get a beautiful golden color as well as a nice buttery flavor, and lock in moisture. The breasts are finished in the oven and topped with a creamy herb sauce. I mean really? What's not to love? This meal is so, so delicious. It's fancy and easy. I really like making this when we have company over I can prepare the chicken up to the the point just before cooking it and then can refrigerate it until a half hour before meal time, that way I can prepare other components of the meal. It's easy and the best part is my guests always love it. Serve the chicken cordon bleu with wild rice and roasted asparagus and you have yourself one delicious meal.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Ingredients:

4 Chicken Breasts
1/2 pound of ham, thinly sliced
1/2 pound block of Swiss cheese, cut into strips

Breading:
2 eggs
1/4 cup cream
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp paprika
salt and pepper, to taste

Browning:
2 tbsp canola oil
1/4 cup butter

Cream Sauce:
1 cup cream
1/2 cup chicken broth
3 tbsp flour
2 tbsp chopped parsley
salt and pepper, to taste

Begin by pounding each chicken breast to 1/4 inch thickness. I place each breast between two pieces of wax paper and using a meat mallet or a rolling pin pound until the chicken is to my desired thickness. Be careful not to pound too hard or the chicken breast will just fall apart. Gently work it till it forms a large, even piece of chicken. Once it's flat if you need to flip the chicken so that the smooth side is facing down and the rough side is facing up. Depending on how large the chicken breast is place 2 - 3 slices of ham covering the chickens surface and 1 or two pieces of Swiss cheese. Fold the sides of the ham over the ends of the cheese and tightly roll the breast up. Secure in a roll form with tooth picks or kitchen twine (I find kitchen twine to be much easier to work with but whatever you have works fine). Set aside rolled breasts while you finish rolling the others.

Once all the breasts are rolled up prepare a breading station. In a shallow dish combine eggs and 1/4 cup cream and whisk to combine. In a second shallow dish combine bread crumbs, flour, paprika, and salt and pepper. Start by covering each breast at a time in the egg mixture and then the bread crumb mixture set aside on a baking sheet until all breasts are completely breaded. At this point if you want you can cover and refrigerate the chicken breasts until you're ready to cook them off, they can be refrigerated up to one day.

In a large skillet or wide shallow pot melt 1/4 cup of butter with 2 tbsp canola oil over medium high heat. Brown the chicken breasts in the butter/oil on all sides, not cooking through just getting a nice crust on the outside. Working with no more than two breasts at a time. Tongs are a handy tool when doing this step although a spatula could work too. Add more butter and oil as you brown if the pan gets too dry. If the butter or left over crumbs burn, don't worry turn the heat to medium and wipe out the burned bits in the pan if you so desire (fyi you'll want some left over butter and crumbs when making the sauce so don't get rid of it all, and whatever you do don't wash out your browning pan). Once all the breasts are browned place on a baking dish and bake in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into a thick part of the breast reads 165 degrees.

While the breasts are baking make the cream sauce. In the browning pan add the 3 tbsp flour to the left over butter. If there's not at least 1 tablespoon of left over butter in the pan add some and melt it. Create a roux, a paste like consistency out of the flour and butter, cook the roux for 1 minute stirring. whisk in the chicken broth and bring to a simmer, finally whisk in the cream and allow to thicken over medium low heat for 5-10 minutes. The sauce needs to be the consistency of gravy, if it's too thick add a little more cream, if it's too thin mix a tablespoon of flour with a little cream to form a past and whisk that into the sauce, until it's the desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper and chopped parsley.

Serve the chicken breasts hot with cream sauce. Enjoy!

Recipe Update

Hey-o I recently updated one of my favorite recipes, the instructions are much easier to follow so now you have no excuse not to make it. Behold the Double Chocolate Torte.

Disney World Christmas Part 1: Epcot

Christmas has come and gone and now I'm sitting here with weather in the single digits reminiscing about where I was a week ago. Missing those beautiful 70 degree days in Florida. Every other year my family goes away for Christmas, we've had this tradition going for the past 6 years. It's glorious. There's no gift buying, no snow, just lots of fun in the sunshine as a family. This year we picked Walt Disney World in Florida as our Christmas trip destination. Disney is such an awesome place to spend the Christmas holiday because they do everything over the top, every building is covered from top to bottom in tinsel and garland and bright colored bulbs and twinkle lights. It's so "Christmasy". We were there for a week and everyday was packed full of fun. The first day we spent at Disney's Epcot. 

Epcot is home of the "World Showcase" where various countries from around the world are brought to life. You can visit France, Morocco and Japan all in one afternoon. I'm always amazed at the attention to detail Disney puts into everything they do from the buildings to the souvenirs for sale, it's all so well thought out. Epcot is one of my favorite parks, there's not many rides, it's really low key. But I have to admit my favorite part of Epcot is the eating. You can get a crepe in France and a Bratwurst in Germany, and finish it off with a scoop of gelato from Italy! It's brilliant, really. Going into this post I just want to warn you, we ate. And ate. And ate, like I said that was my favorite part of Epcot. It's half the fun right? Right! So just a heads up there are many food pictures and descriptions. Don't think less of us OK? We just like food. That being said here's what our day looked like in Epcot...

Our first stop of the day was in Canada. We made a human totem pole and I though about my Canadian friend Maya...Hi Maya!

Next we made our way to England, where we saw precious tea sets, wandered in the gardens and took a break in a traditional English parlor. We got a basket of fish and chips to share and a box of shortbread cookies. Both were fantastic. The eating in England was awesome.

In Italy there were recognizable structures modeled after ones from all over the country, there were fountains that looked like they belonged in Rome, a tower from Venice and, many other little details from Florence. While in Italy we had to try the gelato. My mom and I split vanilla bean gelato sandwiched in between two chocolate chip cookies. And yes, it was spectacular.



Germany was next and surprise we ate some delicious food! A soft pretzel, Werthers caramel popcorn, a salted caramel, and a bratwurst with sauerkraut.While were were there we saw a life sized coo coo clock, people wearing lederhosen and beautiful German architecture.



We made a stop in France and listened to Pere Noel (Santa Clause) tell his story, saw gardens mimicking those of Versailles, and even saw a little art. All the while with the Eiffel tower peaking over the tops of the buildings. We finished our time in France with a crepe, and pain au chocolat. 

Next stop was Morocco where we saw a beautiful belly dancer and loved the colors and patterns and designs of their buildings and artwork.



We made a stop in Japan and loved the gardens and silky kimonos. We saw a Japanese woman retrieving pearls out of oysters and I got a box of my favorite Asian candy "Hello Panda". It's basically little chocolate filled fortune cookies that look like pandas. They're yummy. And cute. 

In China we ate yummy beef stir fry and "awed" over the replica display of the terracotta army.

We also visited America, Mexico and the Netherlands. It was a full and fun day.We finished they day with a beautiful sunset over the lake and an amazing fireworks show accompanied by Christmas music.

Food Adventure: Florida

 The state food of Florida is the orange. So of course last week while we were in Orlando we visited a local orange grove for our Florida food adventure. We picked the freshest, juiciest, most delicious oranges ever. Luckily for us winter is peak orange season in Florida, everything was ripe and ready for picking. The Showcase of Citrus is one of the largest "you pick" orange groves in Florida. This grove was full of many different trees growing over 25 variations of citrus fruits, from oranges to grapefruits to lemons and limes. Picking oranges in Florida was one of the coolest things I've ever done. The grove was beautiful and smelt amazing! As far as the oranges go they were so yummy - the freshest I've ever had. The honey tangerines were probably my favorite (I'm actually eating one right now - yumm) they're so sweet and juicy. The traditional navel oranges were great too, I'm excited to make some juice with the oranges we brought home. These straight-from-Florida oranges are definitely the best I've ever had.

 

On our "yumm scale" we rated Florida Oranges as a Super Yumm!

 

 For your reference the "Yumm Scale" :
1. Yuck
2. Yu...
3. Yumm
4. Super Yumm
5. Holymolycanoliyumm!

2012 in a Glimpse

This has been a year full of travel, new jobs, new homes, new friends, and lots of driving (Utah to DC and back are you kidding me??). 2012 was spent learning and growing and planning. We have loved every moment of this year and all that we have experienced as a couple and as individuals. We celebrate our successes and we try to learn from our mistakes and trials. Now we look back with gratitude for all that we were able to do and see this year.

In January we moved to Washington DC for a one semester internship for Adam.

In February we fell in love with Boston. 

In March we visited Mt. Vernon.

In April Adam Graduated from Brigham Young University with a BA in Communication Studies.

 In May we relaxed on the sandy beaches of Playa Del Carmen.

In June I got to spend time with my best girl friends.

In July we visited Adam's family in Idaho Falls. 

In August I got excited about starting Culinary Arts School. 

(My family got pretty excited too, they really liked my uniforms.)

 

In September Adam took me to the Utah state fair. 

In October I dressed up as a zombie girl scout for Halloween. 

 In November we hosted a Thanksgiving dinner at our house. 

(I cooked all day long)

 In December we celebrated Christmas in Walt Disney World.

This has been a pretty fantastic year if you ask me and as I'm sad to see it come to a close, I'm looking forward to 2013 with anticipation and excitement for new experiences and life changes.

Happy New Year! 

Remember 2010 and 2011

Christmas Vacation

Hope you're having a wonderful Christmas! My family is celebrating on the road this year, Disney style! Well wishes from Disney World and sunny Florida! I'll catch up on the blogging next week, food photos to come!

Buttermilk Cornbread

Cornbread can be a tricky thing. So many people have very specific preferences and tastes. A lot of people like thin savory cornbread, others like thicker sweet cornbread, and some people even like actual corn kernels in their batter, all types of corn bread have their place, and are delicious in their own ways but I'm partial to the sweeter varieties. This recipe is a good one for the people who prefer their cornbread sweet and buttery. This bread is dense and moist and has a lot of yummy flavor. The tangyness from the buttermilk, the sweetness from the sugar. It's so good. Great with a big bowl of chili or a heaping pile of jambalaya, even yummy by it's self for breakfast with some raspberry jam and honey. Anyway you eat it, it's sure to be delicious!

Buttermilk Cornbread Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter 2/3 cup sugar 2 eggs 1 cup buttermilk 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 cup cornmeal 1 cup flour 1/2 tsp salt Preheat oven to 375 degrees, and grease an 8 inch square pan. Melt butter in large pot and then remove from heat and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into mixture in pan. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

* Don't have buttermilk? That's ok - make your own! For every one cup of buttermilk you need add 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to the milk. Let the mixture stand for 5 minutes before using.   *I don't use buttermilk super often when I cook so I buy dry buttermilk powder and keep it in the fridge that way when a recipe calls for it I have it on hand, and I don't have to send husband to the store.