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