Thursday, February 7, 2013

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Ingredients:
  •  4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/8 tsp. black pepper
  • 1/8 tsp. paprika
  • 4 slices ham
  • 4 slices reduced-fat Swiss cheese
  • 2 Tbsp. seasoned bread crumbs  
Instructions:
  1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 7x11 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
  2. Using a meat tenderizer, pound chicken breasts to about 1/4 inch thickness (basically, as flat as you can without the chicken breasts breaking into pieces).
  3. Sprinkle each piece of chicken on both sides with salt, paprika, and black pepper. Place 1 cheese slice and 1 ham slice on top of each breast. Roll up each breast, and secure with toothpicks. Don't be afraid to use the toothpicks liberally. Place in baking dish, and lightly sprinkle chicken with bread crumbs.
  4. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until chicken's internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Remove from oven. Let cool 2-3 minutes before serving.
For a complete meal, serve over brown or wild rice with a side of your favorite vegetable (asparagus maybe?).  

Delicious leftover too so consider making a couple extra. Remove the toothpicks as you eat to keep them together.  

Much simpler than one would think and much more impressive than chicken topped with a ghetto slice of ham and cheese. Really into the idea of rolling flattened chicken breasts so expect more .