Chicken Cordon Blue

We are living on make ahead dinners lately.  Baseball games and soccer games are consuming most evenings.  By the time we get home at night, everyone is starving and way too hungry to wait for me to fix dinner.  My solution?  Make dinner at noon and put it in the frig until dinnertime.  It only takes a few minutes to reheat a meal in the microwave and evenings just run smoother once everyone has had a warm dinner.  This Chicken Cordon Blue recipe was inspired by Bobby Flay and it's a fantastic make ahead dinner.  I cooked the chicken at lunchtime and let it cool before putting it in the refrigerator until dinnertime.  It reheated beautifully in the microwave and everyone really liked it.  

Chicken Cordon Blue
4 chicken breasts skinless and boneless
4 thin slices prosciutto
1/2 pound Gruyere, sliced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely minced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs
Extra-virgin olive oil

Lay the chicken breast between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Using the flat side of a meat mallet, gently pound the chicken to 1/4-inch thickness

​​Remove the top sheet of plastic and lay 1 slice of prosciutto neatly over the top to cover the breast.

Lay the cheese slices over the prosciutto.  Tuck in the sides of the breast and roll up tight like a jellyroll inside the plastic wrap. Squeeze the log gently to seal and twist both ends tight to form a nice log. Repeat with remaining chicken.

​​Season the flour with salt and pepper. Mix the bread crumbs with thyme, garlic and kosher salt, pepper, and melted butter. The butter will help the crust brown. Beat together the eggs.

​Remove the plastic wrap. Lightly dust the chicken with flour, dip in the egg mixture and gently coat in the bread crumbs.  Lightly coat a baking pan with olive oil and carefully transfer the roulades onto it.

​Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until browned and cooked through.

​It's nice to have dinner waiting for us when we get home from a game.  These were a nice treat after a recent baseball game.  And just in case you were curious, I thought I would share some of my favorite pictures from the game. 

Ciao!

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