For this week’s Ferme Reveuse chicken recipe, I dive into a classic dish - Chicken Cordon Bleu. Essentially it’s breaded chicken breast stuffed with swiss cheese and ham. The rest is up to you! Below is a video for how to remove a chicken breast off of a whole chicken.
There are a few ways you can approach this recipe. It can involve multiple steps for a very classic ‘roulade’ look or you can simply butterfly a chicken breast like Olga from the farm describes below.
“For Cordon Bleu I slice chicken breast vertically like a butterfly and use two pieces for top and bottom. I prefer large chicken breast to work with for this recipe (at least 3.6 kg chicken). It gives me usually 6 large cordon bleu. Trimmings I use for riz cazimir or Wellington.”
For the recipe I posted I used a smaller chicken, around 2kg and pounded the breast leaving it in tact and rolled it like a burrito after filling it. This yielded 2 very large portions. Whichever way you take, I recommend either frying the chicken until it’s cooked through (as is written in the recipe) or pan frying in less cooking fat and then finishing it in the oven until cooked through for best results. Baking it the whole way works as well without necessarily pan frying it but it doesn’t crisp up as well.
Below I present the more fancy version but let me know which way you choose!
Chicken Cordon Bleu
Serves 2, gluten and dairy free options
2 chicken breasts from a 2kg Ferme Reveuse chicken pounded thin
salt and pepper to season
75 g prosciutto cotto slices
75 g swiss cheese, sliced thin or Daiya mozzarella shreds
1/8 cup flour or cassava flour
1 pinch paprika
1 egg whisked
1 tbsp water
1.2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 cup breadcrumbs (regular or gluten free)
cooking oil of choice (I used half chicken schmaltz and half lard)
Plastic wrap
Toothpicks
Season both sides of the chicken breast.
Whisk flour, paprika with a pinch of salt and pepper. Sprinkle over a large plate.
In another plate, whisk egg, water and Dijon together.
Place breadcrumbs into
Place slices of prosciutto cotto on chicken breasts leaving 1/2” edge around the sides of chicken. Place swiss cheese slices directly on top of the prosciutto leaving the same amount of space around the edge of the chicken.
Working on one breast at a time, lay it on top of a sheet of plastic wrap.
Fold the short sides of the chicken in on itself slightly and roll it up into a log starting from the long sides, like you were rolling up a burrito. Bring up the plastic wrap to wrap up tightly and twist the loose edges forming it into a cylinder shape. Here’s a good visual aid of what I mean.
Repeat with the second breast.
Refrigerate both for 30 min.
Meanwhile, bring cooking fat up to heat. For best results, take a short, high sided pan that is wide enough to fit both roulades and fill it up with cooking fat so that the fat is 1” high. Bring this fat up to 350F slowly before you are ready to fry.
Remove the chicken from the fridge and take off the plastic wrap. Secure the edges with toothpicks. Dredge chicken roulade on all sides with flour mixture and shake off excess carefully. Roll into egg mixture and allow excess to drip off. Press into breadcrumbs.
When fat comes to temperature place chicken carefully into hot oil. Cook for about 4 minutes per side or until internal temperature reaches 165F.
When it is cooked, place onto a paper towel lined plate. Allow to rest for 5 minutes, slice and serve with a side salad.
