[theme music]
Back in the day
of culinary school,
chicken cordon bleu was
lesson one, day one.
It was a first thing I cooked
that really felt French.
So I've got one
package of chicken,
boneless, skinless chicken
breasts cut in four pieces.
And I've also got prosciutto
and Gruyere cheese.
OK, so what we're going to do
with our plastic board here,
we're going to cover it with
a piece of plastic wrap.
And the plastic wrap is
going to do two things.
It's going to keep
us from pounding
chicken all over the place.
It's going to keep
it in one spot.
And it's also going to
act as a vehicle to wrap
and twists our chicken
breasts up so we
have a nice, tight pinwheel.
OK, so we've got this.
We're going to take our
chicken, cut it open.
And we're going to take
our chicken breasts.
And take a look at this.
Is a split boneless
skinless chicken breasts.
You've seen it a million times.
What we want to do is
stretch it out almost twice
the size as what it is now.
And with that process
what you want to do is you
want to pound and push.
So we're going to push
and pound until it
really starts to widen out.
And then we've got some
really beautiful prosciutto,
tastes a lot better than ham.
And we've got some
Gruyere cheese,
tastes a lot better than Swiss.
All right, so we've got
four chicken breasts
here that I pounded
our real thin
and layered in between plastic.
All right, we're not going
to season the inside of this
because the prosciutto
is kind of salty
as well as the Gruyere, right.
So we don't want to overdo it.
So we've got some
prosciutto here.
And when you're shopping for
prosciutto you what to make
sure you get the streaky stuff.
Look at that.
Now that is a
beautiful piece of ham.
I mean, what would
you rather have,
prosciutto, yes,
or deli ham, no.
Little Gruyere right
down the middle.
A little goes a long way.
OK, so we're going to
take the plastic wrap.
And we're going to
twist it up almost
like you're making sushi, OK.
We're going to take
the chicken breasts
and roll it and then
pull the plastic wrap up
just till it flips itself over.
Then we're going to take
the edge the plastic.
We're going to put
it straight down.
And we're going to
give it one more
little tug so the whole
thing is in one place.
Then we're going to
twist it all the way up.
And then we're going
to take the ends
and just go from
one end to the other
until you get a
perfect cylinder.
And the great thing
about wrapping
in plastic, no toothpicks.
Hey, oh.
look at that.
OK, so I've got one knocked out.
I'm going to wrap
up the four and then
we're going to get them in
the fridge and let them rest.
OK, now let's talk about
our chicken cordon bleu.
Now we're going to bread this.
Generally chicken cordon
bleu has a gorgeous bread
crust on the outside.
And what we have here
is a very simple set up.
It's flour, eggs cut with a
little bit of milk or water,
and then some panko crumbs.
And what we're going to
do is season everything
first with a little
bit of salt and pepper.
Just one big sprinkle
to everything
just so it has some taste.
And then go in with a few
cranks of fresh cracked
pepper right on
top of everything
so it has a base note.
And then with the
panko breadcrumbs
we're going to give it just
a little more attention here.
And I've got a clove of
garlic, it's already peeled,
and a microplane.
And what I'm going to do
is just take the garlic.
I'm going to rub it
against the surface of it.
This is the fastest way to grate
up a whole clove of garlic.
It almost dissolves right
in front of your eyes.
And it all ends up
in the bottom here.
And it's just this pulpy puree.
And it's going to blend in
really well with the bread
crumbs and then give the chicken
a delicious fresh, garlicy
flavor right on the outside.
All right, so we've got that.
Then we're going to mix it
in with some melted butter.
All right, just two tablespoons
of melted butter right on top.
And then also we're going
to put in some fresh thyme.
Boom, we're going to take about
four sprigs of fresh thyme.
And we're just going
to strip the leaves
off backwards with my fingers.
So we have a nice
flavored breadcrumb.
And just kind of scatter
everything right on top.
All right, so we got that.
I'm going to take my
fingers and just kind
of mix it around a little bit.
And now let's talk
about our chicken
that's been chillin
in the fridge.
So we've got or chicken here.
All right, we stuffed it
with prosciutto and Gruyere.
We took some plastic
wrap and we twisted
it really, really tight.
And we let it rest in the
fridge for about a half an hour.
And what happens is you
get these beautiful bundles
that really hold their shape.
All right, so what we're going
to do is take our chicken
and we're just going to
gently roll into the flour.
Now they're going
to hold the shape,
but we still have to
be delicate with it.
And then give it a little
tap, shake off the excess.
And then we're going to take
the chicken and roll in the egg.
No dry spots.
And then we're going
to take the chicken
and we're going to drop
it into the breadcrumbs
and just roll it around.
It's gorgeous.
And that is it.
Perfectly coated
chicken cordon bleu.
Bang.
All right, so I did one.
I'm going to bang out the rest.
All right, and then
we're going to hit it
with some extra virgin
olive oil right on top
to help the breadcrumb
start to brown.
And then we're going to throw
them into the oven 350 degrees
for about 20 minutes, just
until they're perfectly golden
and then you want
to take them out.
You definitely don't want to
overcook these because they're
pounded out so
thin they actually
start to dry out after a while.
Chicken cordon bleu, beautiful.