Chicken Cordon Bleu: A Soulful Recipe

Ok, so now that you've gotten a date for the evening, it's time to impress the pants off them. You are going to cook a delicious Chicken Cordon Bleu with herb potatoes and asparagus smothered in hollandaise. For dessert, you will be serving dark chocolate covered strawberries and champagne.

Guess what?

It's going to be easy. Even if you have never cooked a meal before, you'll be able to make this dinner. All together, it will take about an hour to make, so begin preparing this meal 45 minutes before your guest is due to arrive.

Sounds good?

Don't be scared, it will be easy to make and very delicious.

First, you'll need a shopping list for all the ingredients you will need.

Chicken Cordon Bleu:
• A hammer (don't worry, it'll make sense later)
• 1 sandwich bag
• toothpicks
• Small oven safe dish (Pyrex one's work well)
• 4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
• 4 slices Swiss cheese (real Swiss is best, but you can also use the processed Swiss cheese slices instead)
• Sliced Black Forest Ham (from the deli section)
• Shake n Bake (Original flavor)

Roasted Herb Potatoes:
• 4 russet potatoes (the brown kind)
• Butter
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Oregano
• Large non-stick frying pan

Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce:
• Bundle of fresh asparagus
• Packet of Hollandaise sauce mix
• Milk
• Small pot
Now you're on to the main event, cooking the meal. This will take some preparation, so make sure to get everything ready before you start to cook it. I would also suggest for you to set the table before you start to cook. Then it will be all ready for you to serve your beautiful meal, without any last minute running around. I would also suggest that you take a minute, and pour yourself a glass of wine. It just adds something special to the experience of cooking.

Let's start by getting the potatoes ready to go. If you are making a dinner for 2, then I would use 4 russet potatoes. (Go by the rule of 2 potatoes per person, and you may have some leftovers.)

• You'll need to give them a rinse to get any dirt off them, but you don't need to peel them.
• Now just chop them up into rough shaped chunks(You should be able to get about 8 chunks out of each potato).
• Put a large frying pan on the stove and drop in about a Tbsp. of butter. Turn on the burner for a minute just until the
butter melts, and then turn it off, for now.
• Put all your potato chunks into the pan and stir them around so they all get in the butter.
• Season the potatoes with about a 1/2 tsp. Salt, 1/2 tsp. Garlic powder, 1/2 tsp. Pepper (coarse pepper from a pepper mill is best), and about a Tbsp. Oregano (Make sure to give it a stir while adding the spices so the potatoes are coated evenly).
• Turn the burner on medium-low heat, when you put the chicken in the oven.
• Make sure to cover with a lid and remember to stir every few minutes, so they don't burn. Your goal is to have a little brown color on all sides of the pieces. These will take the same amount of time as the chicken to cook. About 35 minutes.

Chicken time!!

This is the fun part. First thing you need to do is go get your hammer. Yeah, you read that right, I said hammer. Now because hammers aren't usually very clean, put a sandwich bag over the head. You are going to use the hammer to pound the chicken breast a little flatter.

• Before you begin, preheat your oven to 350 F.
• Wwash your 4 chicken breasts in cold water.
• Lay them, shiny side down, on a cutting board.
• Use your hammer covered with the bag, to gently pound the chicken breast to about half an inch thick all over(BE GENTLE!! You don't want to tear it apart).
• When all your breasts are ready, lay them out one at a time.
• Lay a piece of Swiss cheese on the chicken.
• Put a piece of Black Forest Ham on top of the cheese.
• Now roll the chicken, with the cheese and ham up as tightly as you can(This part can be a little tricky, but keep trying).
• Secure your roll using 2 toothpicks.
• Repeat this with all the chicken breasts.
• Now, roll them into your Shake n Bake, and place them into the oven safe pan.
• Put into the oven for 35 minutes.

Remember to turn on your potatoes!

Well, by this point you are almost done. All you need to do is cook the asparagus and make the Hollandaise sauce. So begin to get it ready, but don't turn on the heat until you have 10 minutes left on the timer for the chicken.

• Wash the asparagus in cold water.
• Cut off about an inch at the end of the stalks(Like you would with a flower stem).
• Put the asparagus in a frying pan on the stove with about 1/2 cup of water.
• Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.
• Put a lid on it to cover.
• Turn on medium heat, when timer for chicken reaches 10 minutes.
• To serve, all you need to do is drain any water off them and cover with Hollandaise sauce.

Now, just follow the directions on the back of the package to make the Hollandaise sauce. I know they all can be slightly different; however, it is really easy to prepare and should take less than 10 minutes to make. Once you get the asparagus ready to cook, making the sauce will be your last step to this meal.

One last reminder: before serving the chicken, remember to remove the toothpicks, so your date doesn't end up eating wood.

Now all that's left to do is eat, and bask in the compliments you are about to receive. Enjoy!!

Click here to move from Chicken Cordon Bleu to Romantic Retaurant

Click here to return to the home page