The Diet Diary

Here’s my time saving, freeze ahead recipe for Chicken Cordon Bleu. My recipe uses 6 half pound chicken breasts, applying my rules for portion control 12 servings each with 5 ounces of meat. (That’s 2 USDA servings of meat!)

Look at that? Can’t you just taste the gooey cheese, chicken and prosciutto? Now for the recipe.

Ingredients

1 t salt,
1/2 freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup flour
1 Tablespoon crushed thyme leaves
3 whole wheat bread slices, made into crumbs.
2 eggs
2 teaspoons water
6 double chicken breasts (about 8-ounces each), skinless and boneless
12-24 thin slices prosciutto. (About 1/2 lb. Have the deli slice it thinly.)
12-24 slices reduced fat Gruyere (about 6 ounces.)
Olive oil for browning.

You’ll also need toothpicks, a frying pan, an baking pan, some assorted shallow bowls or pans and an oven!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix flour with half of the salt and pepper; and place in a shallow dish. Set aside. Mix the bread-crumbs with thyme, kosher salt, pepper, and oil and place in another dish. Set aside. Beat together the eggs and water. Set aside.

Using a sharp knife slice each breast almost to the edge, then fold open. (See image to the right. Your goal is to minimize the amount of pounding required to get these flat!)

Using the flat side of a meat mallet, gently pound the chicken to 1/4-inch thickness. Don’t pound too hard because the meat will tear.

Lay slices of prosciutto on a breast; then lay by slices of cheese on the ham leaving 1/2 inch on each edge so the cheese doesn’t ooze out when you cook. Roll into a jelly roll. Fasten with toothpicks. (Warm your family there may be toothpicks in the food.)

Lightly dust the chicken with flour, dip in the egg mixture then gently coat in the bread crumbs.

(If you are freezing ahead, stop here and read ahead.)

Place a frying pan over high heat. When pan is hot, add some olive oil, turn heat down a bit and brown each roll on all three sides. (About 1-2 minutes per side.)

Carefully transfer the chicken rolls to a baking pan and bake for 20 minutes until browned and cooked through. (The center should reach 170- 180 F. ) Remove from oven, let stand about 3 minutes. Slice to show center when serving.

Each roll serves two! I cook 1 roll to serve both Jim and me. I freeze 5 ahead. (If you think one roll is one portion, you have not learned proper portion sizes. After all, one roll represents four food pyramid servings of meat!)

To freeze ahead:

Do not brown the rolls. Instead, line a cookie sheet, plate or pan with waxed paper. Gently place each roll on the waxed paper, leaving a small space room between each chicken breast. Place in freezer for 1/2 hour to an hour. Open freezer and shift the rolls a bit, then put them back in the freezer. (This is to keep them from freezing to the paper or each other! If the freeze to the wax paper, that’s no tragedy, but it’s inconvenient.)

When they are completely frozen, remove them from the wax paper, place in a freezer bag and seal.

To prepare later, take them out the morning before you wish to serve them. Let them defrost in the refrigerator, and continue preparation as though you had just made these freshly.

Dinner in less than 30 minutes!

I serve these with brown rice, acorn squash and a salad. My advice: If you are thawing the chicken, start the rice first. While the rice is cooking, brown and back the chicken. While the chicken is baking, prepare the salad.

Bon Appetite.