Chicken Cordon Bleu

I've never been one to crave Chicken Cordon Bleu.  But any time I make risotto, I always end up with leftover white wine.  I hate for it to go to waste so I use my AllRecipes app to find different recipes with white wine in them.  I found this particular Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe and made some alterations of my own. I'd make it again...definitely! 

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Ingredients:

6 boneless chicken breasts

6 slices Swiss cheese

6 slices deli ham

1 c. plain bread crumbs

1 t. paprika

1 t. garlic powder

1 egg, lightly beaten

3 T. butter

3 T. olive oil

1/2 c. white wine

1 t. chicken bouillon granules

1 T. cornstarch

1 c. heavy whipping cream

Parsley (for garnish)

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 

In a small bowl, combine bread crumbs, paprika, and garlic powder.

 

Pound chicken breasts to an even thickness.  Place cheese and ham slices on each chicken breast.  Fold the edges of the chicken over and secure with toothpicks.  Brush each chicken breast with beaten egg then roll in bread crumb mixture. 

 

Heat the butter and olive oil in a large skillet over med-high heat.  Add chicken to skillet and cook 2-3 minutes on each side until chicken is well browned.  Transfer chicken to a greased casserole dish and cook for 10-15 minutes. 

 

Meanwhile add wine and bouillon granules to butter in skillet.  Reduce heat to low.  Blend whipping cream and cornstarch in a small bowl.  Slowly whisk into wine sauce.  Cook, stirring until thickened.

Remove toothpicks from cooked chicken and drizzle sauce over top.  Sprinkle with parsley.

 

In my test kitchen:

 

Don't quote me on the oven cooking time.  It might depend on how thick your chicken is.  Mine were smaller and I pounded them out thin.  I also think it needed more than 1 slice of Swiss cheese.  I could barely taste it.  I also messed up and dumped the cornstarch right into the butter sauce rather than mixing it with the whipping cream first.  So it started out a little lumpy and I had to whisk the crap out of it to smooth it out.  Also, it has been referenced that you can use chicken broth instead of white wine.  I highly recommend trying it with the wine.  If you're concerned about the alcohol content, don't be.  It cooks out.  I have come to love the flavor left behind when cooking with wine.  It's very distinct and elegant. 

 

~Happy Cooking!

 

Berry-filled Doughnuts

Insanely easy to make...for those days when you just want a doughnut.

Berry-filled Doughnuts

Ingredients:
4 cups vegetable oil
1 tube (7.5 oz) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits, separated into 10 biscuits
3/4 c. seedless strawberry jam
1 c. confectioner's sugar

Directions:
In an electric skillet or deep-fat fryer, heat oil to 375 degrees.  Fry biscuits, a few at a time, for 1-2 minutes on each side or until golden brown.  Drain on paper towels.

Cut a small hole in the corner of a pastry or plastic bag; insert a very small tip.  Fill bag with jam.  Push the tip through the side of each doughnut to fill with jam.  Dust with confectioner's sugar while warm.  Serve immediately.

In my test kitchen:
Hold up!  I misread the recipe when I made these and searched the store forever for seedless raspberry jam.  Finally found some but didn't realize it called for seedless strawberry jam until I typed the recipe out here.  Slightly annoyed since seedless strawberry jam was all I could find at first!  Point is though...you can make this with a variety of fillings and it would be great.  Strawberry or raspberry jam, lemon pie filling, or simply roll them around in some cinnamon/sugar as soon as they come out of the fryer.  I have some leftover lemon pudding that I am going to try this week. 

Be careful not to fill these too full.  It's hard to know how much is getting into the doughnut.  It took me about four doughnuts to get the hang of it. 

~Happy Cooking!

Aloha Smoothie

Refreshing drinks for the warmer weather...that's where I'm at these days.  I occasionally slip in some spinach just so I can not feel guilty that my daughter NEVER eats vegetables and my son only eats carrots.  This smoothie is great for those who hate bananas.  (You either love 'em or hate 'em!)

Aloha Pineapple Smoothie

Ingredients:

10 oz. pineapple juice
2 T. plain yogurt
2 scoops frozen strawberries
2 scoops pineapple sherbet
1 scoop crushed ice

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a blender and serve immediately!

Garnish with a piece of sliced pineapple or strawberry for fun!

In my test kitchen:

I tried this with lime sherbet rather than pineapple and really enjoyed it.  So try either.  Lime sherbet mutes the strong pineapple flavor but works really well.  The plain yogurt is definitely omittable.  So don't buy some just for this recipe.  But I would recommend making sure you use frozen fruit and not fresh fruit.  It changes the texture of the smoothie to use fresh fruit. 

Frozen fruit is kinda pricey.  So I like to buy large quantities and slice it myself and freeze them on  tray.  Then, once frozen, I store the fruit in freezer bags.  It's nice to keep an assortment of fruits on hand to try your own smoothie concoctions.

~Happy Cooking!

Savory Green Beans

What's up with me and green beans?  A year ago I wouldn't have even thought to serve them since Clint has always hated them.  But on a whim I cooked up some fresh ones last summer and now it seems to be the vegetable of choice for dinner at our house.  This was a nice dish served on Easter.  The family loved it.

Savory Green Beans

Serves 6

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans, rinsed and trimmed
3 oz coarsely chopped pancetta
1 shallot, thinly sliced
salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.  Add the green beans and boil 3 - 4 minutes until just tender.  Drain beans and immediately plunge into ice water.  Allow to sit in ice water until cold, then drain well, and set aside.

Cook pancetta in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crispy, then set aside.  Reduce heat to medium, stir shallots in the pancetta fat, and cook gently until the shallots have turned dark golden brown, about 10 minutes.  Place pancetta and green beans in skillet; toss and cook until warmed through, about 2 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.

In my test kitchen:

I must admit that I didn't really follow the directions about the ice water.  I recently ate at the Wild Rose and their green beans were amazing.  The insides tasted great and the outside had a slight crunch but not because it was underdone.  I suspect an ice water bath has something to do with that.  So I'll have to try again.  Nevertheless, this is still good if you immediately remove the green beans and run them under cold water.  (Which is what I did because I was in a rush.)  My shallots cooked up much faster than 10 minutes so keep an eye on those little things!  And I used bacon instead of pancetta due to cost.  My only suggestion is to toss the bacon in right at the end.  Otherwise your once crunchy bacon will soften up when warmed with the green beans.

~Happy Cooking!
 

Berry-Topped Puff Pancake

The family thoroughly enjoyed this Sunday breakfast.  You can improvise with the fruit a little bit to your own liking.

Berry-Topped Puff Pancake

Ingredients:
2 T. butter
2 eggs
1/2 c. 2% milk
1/2 c. flour
2 T. sugar
1/4 t. salt

Topping:
1/3 c. sugar
1 T. cornstarch
1/2 c. orange juice
2 t. orange liqueur
1 c. sliced strawberries
1 c. fresh blueberries
1 c. raspberries
Confectioner's sugar, optional

Directions:
Place butter in a 9 inch pie plate.  Place in a 425 degree oven for 4-5 minutes or until melted.  Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk eggs and milk.  In another bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and salt.  Whisk into egg mixture until blended.  Pour into prepared pie plate.  Bake for 14-16 minutes or until sides are crisp and golden brown.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine sugar, and cornstarch.  Gradually stir in orange juice and liqueur.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Cook and stir 1-2 minutes longer or until thickened.  Remove from heat. 

Spoon berries over pancake and drizzle with sauce.  Dust with confectioner's sugar if desired.

In my test kitchen:
So...when making the pancake, I was lazy and didn't want to pull the pan out of the oven.  I just pulled the rack out and poured the batter in from there.  I'm not sure if that was the reason that the pancake came out lopsided?  But the part that rose higher than the rest burned pretty badly so I will attempt to pour the batter in the pan while it's on a more level surface next time.

I didn't have fresh blueberries or raspberries on hand but I had some frozen ones.  Those worked just fine but fresh raspberries would have been preferable;  the raspberries were a little mushy once thawed.  I think I used a different ratio of fruits as well.  It was more like 1 1/2 c. strawberries, and 1/2 c. blueberries and 1/2 c. raspberries.  I think the main point is just to have enough fruit to put in your pancake.  Fresh peaches would have been great too!  I used orange extract in lieu of the liqueur. 

The biggest difference to the dish for me was that I put the blueberries into my sauce to break down a bit.  I'm not a big fan of whole blueberries.  I find their skins to be really tough and I don't enjoy eating them.  So adding them to the sauce helped soften them up and break them down a bit. 

I scooped out the blueberries and added them to the pancake first.  I didn't use all of the sauce prepared. You can use that to your liking.

~Happy Cooking!