JULIE WELLS: Classic French dish, Chicken cordon blue, can be made Southern way

My husband, Kevin, and I both had the same idea to cook a chicken cordon bleu dish, but he just happened to beat me to it.

I had previously found a chicken cordon bleu casserole that I wanted to try — you know us Southerners, we will make anything into a casserole — but his version of this main dish is healthier than the casserole recipe I had set aside.

Today’s featured recipe could also be referred to as the lazy man’s version of chicken cordon bleu. It’s an easy recipe to make and takes less time.

Chicken cordon bleu is traditionally made by rolling chicken with ham and Swiss cheese, and then coating it with bread crumbs. But this particular recipe has a few less steps than the traditional method of making this French classic. Kevin also left off the bread crumbs, which makes the dish a lower-calorie and gluten-free meal.

I do need to give my husband props. He has really nailed down how to cook chicken for just the right length of time so that the meat is not dry or tough. I’ve yet to completely master that whole process.

I chose to run this recipe today in honor of Father’s Day. Kevin is a fantastic daddy to our 3-year-old little girl, Joy. Joy loves to help me in the kitchen, but she especially loves to help her daddy in the kitchen. The two of them have made some great memories cooking together and she thinks she is the queen of the kitchen when she is helping him.

Not only are lasting memories made in the kitchen, but life lessons are made too. I’m grateful to God that Kevin isn’t afraid to get down and dirty in the kitchen, and allows Joy to be right by his side. She’s not only learning about counting and measuring things, but she is also learning about the science of cooking; the patience required for cooking; and how to handle situations when recipes don’t come out as we think they will. Life often happens that way too, but Joy is learning how to handle it all.

Julie Wells writes the weekly food column The Recipe Box for the Rockdale Citizen.

CHICKEN

CORDON BLEU

What you need …

Two large chicken breasts, boneless, skinless

Four slices of deli-sliced ham

Four slices of Swiss cheese

Olive oil

Sea salt, black pepper

What you do …

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Butterfly the chicken breast and lay flat on a cutting board or a flat surface. To butterfly a chicken breast, hold a long sharp knife along the long side of the chicken and using a sawing motion, slice through the breast almost to the end, being careful not to cut all the way through.

Brush with olive oil and dust with sea salt and ground black pepper; flip and repeat.

Place on cookie sheet or other oven dish.

Place in oven and set the timer for 25 minutes.

Cook until meat is white all the way through and has reached 165 degrees inside.

Remove the chicken from the oven and add two slices of deli ham and two slices of Swiss cheese per chicken and place it back in the oven until cheese is melted.