Christmas Feast List: Chicken Cordon Bleu

Practically all dishes with cheese in its main ingredients can really fancy my palate and for my "Christmas Feast List", Chicken Cordon Bleu is on my top five. Steamed chicken meat on the inside but fried on the outside, simply magical! Despite the deep-frying, the meat stays moist, thanks to the japanese bread crumbs that can really guarantee a perfect golden brown result, even if the cook is just a beginner. 

The usual basics of this dish is boneless chicken breast wrapped in ham or bacon and stuffed with soft cheese like mozzarella,swiss or bleu cheese commonly baked or fried (the latter is my favorite!). To those who don't eat pork, ham or bacon is substituted by very thin sliced beef.

I'm not really sure where this dish originated but according to the very helpful "Wikipedia" the earliest reference about this dish was in 1967, published in "The New York Times.

According to chickencordonbleurecipe.net, "As a French-inspired poultry dish, there was proof that chicken cordon bleu was developed by chefs in the United States in order to imitate or reproduce other stuffed chicken meat dishes from Europe. From its name, it is clear that chicken cordon bleu is of French origin. Chicken cordon bleu, in French,  has meaning as blue ribbon. Chicken cordon bleu by French culinary tradition is honored as high quality food made by high quality chefs. The most similar European dish to chicken cordon bleu is chicken Kiev. Stuffed with seasoned butter, Chicken Kiev is also dredged in breadcrumbs before being fried. There is also heavy influence from a Swiss dish, Veal Cordon Bleu, which is wrapped in cheese and ham before being fried."

Here's a recipe of Chicken Cordon Bleu, Pinoy Style! (courtesy of http://lutongpinoyrecipe.info/pinoy-chicken-cordon-bleu/)

PINOY CHICKEN CORDON BLEU INGREDIENTS

2 whole chicken breast marinated in calamansi and salt
2 thin slices ham, halved lenghtwise
4 slices cheese
1/4 cup fine corn flakes
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. paprika

PINOY CHICKEN CORDON BLEU PROCEDURE

• Halve chicken breasts then cut meat in one piece from bones. Pull each half breast open in the middle to make a deep pocket.

• Tuck a slice of ham and cheese into each pocket. Melt butter or margarine in pie plate.

• Mix corn flakes, salt and paprika in another plate.

• Roll stuffed chicken fist in buteer then in crumb mixture to coat well. Place in a single layer in buttered baking dish. Bake in hot oven 400 degrees F. until chicken is golden brown.

In case that you don't have time to prepare this dish, check Bascon Cafe, they definitely serve a great batch of chicken cordon bleu with honey mustard sauce.