Eliane lent me a copy of "The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry" by Kathleen Flinn. It is essentially the story of the author's experiences while studying at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. I am actually really enjoying the story and it is definitely the type of book I love reading. I think the only thing I don't like about it is that I am not in the mood to read it so I am probably rushing through it faster than I normally would. I really love food memoirs though (well food books in general I think).
There are also recipes scattered throughout the book at the end of each chapter. While Chicken Cordon Bleu has nothing to do with the school itself, the author choose to include a recipe for it and I was inspired to give it a try. And not only give it a try, but really take my time and think through each step. I tend to be impatient and rush things and that is when disasters happen.
One of the problems with this recipe though was one of the ingredients...bread crumbs. I wasn't really in the mood to make my own bread crumbs but all the bread crumbs they sell in the store have high fructose corn syrup or MSG. Both of which my boy won't eat. I checked the organic/specialty diet foods aisle (I really hate that word "organic" but that is another rant) and all I found were gluten free bread crumbs. I have never worked with gluten free products and I wasn't sure of the differences so I went another route. Crisped Rice cereal. I have used this before as "breading" for chicken and have had some really good experiences with it. I grabbed a box of the organic variety though as the original name brand stuff has HFCS too and hoped this wouldn't alter things too much.
The other issue was the cheese. I really really don't like Swiss. I love mozarella and decided to use that instead. Aaron wanted to try it with the Gruyere which was recommended in the original and I agreed to make some for him using that and even agreed to try it. I also got prosciutto for the ham (another recommendation). I have never had it before though I know a lot of foodie's rave about it so I thought I would give it a try.
So the assembly...I layed out everything to start with. The fillings, the ingredients, the dips, etc so that I wouldn't have to try to hunt for things with gooey meat on my hands. The recipe recommended to cut open the chicken breast so that he breast would lie flat like a book. I am not very handy with a knife so I took a meat tenderizer to mine so that the chicken was relatively uniform in thickness and not cause any weird cooking problems. Then it is sprinkled with salt and pepper, a thin layer of Dijon mustard is spread across it, a layer of prosciutto and cheese is then added and it is rolled into little bundles. I don't have any cooking twine so I secured the bundles with tooth picks. I then rolled it in flour, egg, and the crushed cereal (seasoned with sage, parmesean, and season salt to make up for it not being seasoned bread crumbs) and placed into a foil lined pan. Into the oven it went where it got nice and happy.
I tried the prosciutto straight before baking and thought it was awful. Foodie with a refined since of taste I am not. I couldn't wait to get the taste out of my mouth. In fact I made some instant coffee (I didn't feel like making a whole pot) in an attempt to clear the taste but that was just as bad so I added some Kahlua (both ingredients I keep on hand because they occasionally come up in baking recipes I have). Perhaps I got some bad stuff but I couldn't figure out why anyone would find a perfectly tender piece of melon drapped in the stuff such a delicacy. But to each their own. I think saltines and butter is one of life's simple pleasures. Anyway, I was somewhat worried what this would do to my chicken, but it turns out that the cheese really mellowed the prosciutto and made it taste like a rich very salty ham.
In fact, overall it wasn't too bad. I don't think the cereal negatively impacted the flavor. It was a little salty but it is hard to season raw meat to taste and I haven't gotten the knack for it yet. I agree with the author that a smoky/salty cheese or ham would very quickly overpower this dish and I am glad I didn't choose a smoked cheese. I think that the Dijon mustard was really the key element in the overall finished product. I thought the mozzarella was excellent. I am indifferent to the Gruyere but Aaron really liked it and did a happy dance.
Voila
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