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13 October 2013

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole



One thing I would not consider myself, is a writer. Writer sounds so sophisticated, right? I mean not really someone who watches the entire series of the Real Housewives and prefers to eat Del Taco nacho cheese fries for her birthday ;) Though, really those two are awesome, and I guess could be paired with tea. Since tea seems fancy too..haha..I joke... Well I have been having writer's block for the past month. I think that's why my posts have not been as frequent (in addition to the time consuming lifestyle that is graduate school). But I am not sure what is going on. Maybe, my life is too dull and clearly I need to do things thats worth sharing...and by maybe, I mean I haven't left my couch since I came back from Chi-town on Friday ;) Don't judge me...



So about Chi-town. It was a fun trip. A mix of love, fun and crazy. Where should I start? Crazy...well I got stuck with two taxi drivers that had issues. The first, who's charger broke and he gave it to me to fix. Then he did not know where he was going, so asked me to navigate on my phone. The other, who had crazy road rage and made absolutely no sense. I could not understand him at all, because he would slurr his speech. And I was not the only one because I met the taxi driver causing a scene in the hotel lobby trying to find me -- and who got angry when no one else understood him. Oh dear, right? But luckily, I got to meet up with family to enjoy good food and then, the next night, I got to meet up with a friend who I've known since 6th grade. Oh, and my talk went well :) Got to meet other wonderful people who share the same research interests as me.


Though I am not a fancy writer, I did decide to be fancy with food again -- and made chicken cordon belu casserole ;) It was such a fun twist on a classic recipe that I think everyone loves. And by everyone, I mean me. I love stuffed chicken recipes, so when I saw this recipe -- I knew I had to try it. This was a long overdue post, since I made it a while ago. Fun fact: when I was in high school, I took 4 years of French. Sadly, since I graduated high school, it has only gone down hill :/ This is a delicious recipe. If I do make it again, I would add more cheese (I reflected this change in the recipe below -- but just note that when looking at the pictures). This recipe had a few different steps and some prep needed, so just keep that in mind but it is well worth it!






CHICKEN CORDON BLEU CASSEROLE 
Adapted from Tasty Kitchen

INGREDIENTS 

Preheat Oven to 350F Degrees

FOR THE CASSEROLE
2 chicken breasts shredded*
1/2-1 pound of ham slices
2- 6oz packages of Swiss cheese slices

FOR THE SAUCE
4 tbsp. butter
6 tbsp. of all purpose flour
3 1/4 c. milk (whole milk)
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. paprika(optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

FOR THE TOPPING
1 stick of butter, melted
2 c. of panko bread crumbs
2 tsp. dried cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

*To shred chicken, place two chicken breasts and 4 tsbp. chicken broth in a slower cooker. Cook on low for 8 hours. Once cooked, using two forks, shred apart the chicken and allow to sit for an additional 15-20 minutes to soak up liquid.  Squeeze and drain excess liquid.

DIRECTIONS

For the Casserole:
Grease a 9x13 casserole dish with either butter or cooking spray. Cover the bottom of the casserole dish with a layer of ham slices (1/2 of the ham). Top the layer of ham with 1 package of Swiss cheese slices. Then, scatter the shredded chicken breasts over the cheese (depending on how much chicken you prefer, you may not use all the chicken).  Place a second layer of ham slices over chicken (the rest of the ham slices) followed by a second layer (using the second packet) of Swiss cheese slices. Set aside.

For the Sauce:
Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Once melted, whisk in flour, constantly stirring to form a thick paste. Be careful not burn! Once the paste is thick and flour is dissolved, pour in milk while stirring constantly until smooth. Continue cooking until sauce has thickened. This can take some time, so be patient -- 10-15 minutes -- Add in lemon juice, mustard, paprika, salt and pepper. Bring sauce to a boil and then turn off heat. Let sit for about 5 minutes to slightly cool. Pour sauce evenly over the casserole, making sure to cover the edges with sauce.

For the Topping:
Combine melted butter, panko crumbs, cilantro, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Continue stirring until a grainy, sand-like texture is reached. Sprinkle crumble evenly over casserole. Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes or until top has turned light, golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool before serving.

Enjoy,
Chika 


28 comments :

  1. Preheat oven to 30F degrees?...

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    1. Oh dear! Silly me- that was a typo! I corrected the post to now say 350F degrees :) Thank you for letting me know! And thank you for stopping by :)

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  2. It looks delicious. I'll have to try it. Thank you

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  3. Hi Ella! Thanks for stopping by! It was very delicious! Let me know how it turns out! :)

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  4. cook the chicken for 8 hours? is this a typo?

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  5. Hi Anonymous! That is not a typo. When using a slow cooker, you want to cook the chicken on low for 8 hours (or if you are in a time crunch) you can put the slow cooker on high and cook for 4 hours. It seems like a lot but slow cookers, just provide a low heat for long amounts of time to get moist, shredded chicken. Let me know if you have any other questions! And thanks for stopping by!

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  6. I made this last night and it was pretty good. I made my shredded chicken by boiling it for about 45min. Much quicker than the crock pot. I did not use a whole stick of butter in the topping I just used the rest of the stick left from the roux to cut down on calories. I also used fresh cilantro instead of dried (I had it on hand). I also added extra Dijon to the sauce to taste. Overall it was a decent dish. Hubby liked it but my 5 year old did not.

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  7. Hi Anonymous! Thanks for stopping by! Glad you were able to tweak it so that it fit you better! And so glad to hear the hubby liked it. Sorry about the lil' one!

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  8. Can you use 1% milk?

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  9. Hi Anonymous! Yes you can use 1% milk. It may not be as "thick" but it'll be close :) I've done it in the past. If you want to thicken your sauce add more flour. Hope that helps and thanks so much for stopping by!

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  10. Do you think this would freeze well?

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  11. Hi Bethany! Sorry for the delay! I had family in town for Thanksgiving and I went MIA. I think you could freeze it but I think the sauce would not taste as good and may be more watery (it may throw off the consistency). I would say your best bet it to cook it and then place the extra in the fridge OR make it (minus the sauce), freeze it and when you are ready to eat it, pour the sauce on then. Hope that made sense. Let me know if you have any other questions. I will answer much sooner! Thanks for stopping by! :)

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  12. Hi Kgrecipe! This is a very tasty recipe! I hope you enjoyed it :) Happy New Year and thanks so much for stopping by!

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  13. I enjoy your writing style :) Definitely adding this one to my recipe book!
    xoxo
    Sarah

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  14. Hi Sarah! Awww...you are so sweet! And maybe the only one who reads my posts ;) Glad you loved the recipe and thank you so much for stopping by and leaving such a nice comment! I hope you had a great holidays and wonderful New Year!

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  15. I have a lot of cubed leftover ham from the holidays, so I was thinking of adding a bottom layer of crescent rolls to make more of a bottom since I don't have sliced ham. I'll let you know how it turns out - this recipe sounds great!

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  16. I tried this tonight for dinner and my family loved it. It was so great to be able to try something different

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  17. I have tried this recipe and I am surprised the only seasoning per say is the mustard in the sauce. I did not care for it. flavorless. My family did not eat it. I wasted very good ham and cheese. Patti

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  18. Just tried this recipe today - LOVED it! Thanks

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  19. Ahhhhh! How belated am I at all your comments!!!!

    @Kristine: mmmm...::droooool:: How did it turn out!?!?

    @Anonymous: Yay! I ALWAYS love hearing when the fam bam enjoys recipes that are inspired by this blog :)

    @Patti: :( I am so sorry to hear that you and your family did not enjoy this recipe! I hope this does not discourage you from trying other recipes on my blog....food is like everything else in life, what may suit one person may not work for you and vice versa...so I hope there is something here that you just love and so does your family!

    @Anonymous: YAY!!!!! that is awesome :)

    THANK YOU ALL FOR STOPPING BY! And I am so so sorry that it takes me forever to respond sometimes. Graduate school sometimes sucks me away but I promise to always come back!

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  20. I often make Cordon Bleu but this dish seems easiler & more kid friendly since the chicken is shredded. I normally use fresh grated parmesian cheese in my cordon bleu with the swiss cheese. Have you tried that?

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    1. Hi Anonymous! I love fresh grated Parmesan cheese ....mmmm...I can't believe I did not think of that! I will definitely have to try it! Thanks for the suggestion!

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  21. Smells awesome and taste great. But runny. Would you suggest squeezing the juice from the ham first?

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  22. Hi Anonymous! Glad it taste great. You are right that eventually the ham will have some liquid but I did not experience this too much. However, if you feel your ham is retaining a lot of water -- then yes, definitely squeeze out as much water as you can! :)

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  23. Excellent..would not change a thing..I made it according to your directions, but cut it in half for just the two of us..we both loved it and this will be a repeated recipe for us..thanks..

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    1. Hi Anonymous! YAY! I am so glad to hear it came out wonderfully! I should probably just cut the recipe in half since it is just the two of us too BUT my hubby can EAT and I always love left overs ;) Thanks for stopping by!

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  24. has anyone made this before and then frozen the batch to cook later? Will the bread toppings be soggy?

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