Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Lay chicken breast between 2 pieces of plastic wrap or a  freezer bag and using flat side of a meat mallet, gently pound the chicken breast pieces to about 1/4 inch thickness.  Salt and pepper each chicken breast and sprinkle with chopped parsley.  Place two slices of Deli ham and 1 slice of Swiss cheese on each breast within 1/2 inch of the edges.  Roll each breast up tightly like a jellyroll starting at the long side and secure with toothpicks.  Season the bread crumbs with salt, black pepper, thyme, Wild Bill's Meat Rub and paprika in a flat pan.  Dip each chicken breast into the beaten eggs and evenly coat with the seasoned bread crumbs.  Spray a 13x9x2 baking dish with no-stick cooking spray, Pam or equivalent  and arrange chicken breast  with the seam side down and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.

Combine chicken broth and wine in a non-stick skillet and bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.  In a separate bowl, mix flour and whipping cream and slowly add to the broth and wine mixture and cook until thick.  If necessary, add more chicken broth to thin. Season with salt and fresh ground black pepper corns.  Add onion and/or garlic powder to taste if desired.

Remove toothpicks from chicken and cut into pinwheels.  Pour the white wine sauce over chicken and serve while warm.  Serve with a side of home made mash potatoes and green vegetable of your choice.

YIELD:  6 servings

Above chicken cordon bleu served with spiced carrots, steamed cabbage, tomato quarters and orange slices on 04-27-13 and was outstanding.  I left the white wine sauce off this time.  I used a combination of Pastrami and Deli ham and favor the Pastrami more than the Deli ham. Proscuitto ham works equally well but a little on the salty side.    

NOTE:  If using small chicken breast,  you will only need 1 slice of Swiss cheese per chicken breast but the chicken breast that I used were on steroids or something and needed the extra slice of Swiss cheese to cover them.  Also, you can use only 4 chicken breast instead of 6 and use the same amounts of other ingredients listed above.  You need very thin slices of Swiss cheese, otherwise you can't roll the chicken breast very tight...I learned on this one.

Historical information concerning this recipe:  Chicken Cordon Bleu is a French-inspired poultry dish, although evidence suggests that Chicken Cordon Bleu was actually developed in the United States by chefs imitating other stuffed meat dishes from Europe. The name of the dish is clearly of French origin – Cordon Bleu means “blue ribbon” in French, and in French culinary tradition, the Cordon Bleu is awarded to food or chefs of particularly high quality.

This recipe is fairly generic on the web and our Adcock Family Traditions Cookbook circa 1997 has a very close recipe to this one.  This is a good representation of French style cuisine with the white wine sauce even if an ole Southern boy prepared the dish.....grin if you must!

The white wine sauce covers up the pinwheel pattern of the chicken but sequence pixs below will show the chicken jellyroll in closer detail.  This is a great dish and very easy to do but does take a little extra time.  Can you say "beautimous out loud?"  The blue pattern striped dish set was purchased just to highlight this recipe.  Now if that is not a case of complete domestication, there aren't any oil wells in Odessa, Texas!  Above served with Joyce's Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes, broccoli and cheese, toss salad and garlic toast and drinks of choice.

Below pixs of Chicken Cordon Bleu baked on 02-12-09 using thin sliced Pastrami instead of the Deli Ham simply because I was out of the sliced Deli ham and used what I had on hand without making a fast trip to the Super Market.

Above pix before slicing...I didn't let it cool down very long...must have been hungry for sure!

What a beautiful contrast between the Pastrami, Swiss Cheese, Fresh Chopped Parsley and Chicken...can you say Beautimous? The seasoned bread crumbs baked to a golden brown color.  I retired the above cutting board...plenty of dings in it from hand cubing steak and since this pix, purchased a much larger combination hand cuber and flat mallet.  Grin if you must!

I guarantee you that Prosciutto Ham would be outstanding with this recipe instead of regular Deli ham and will give it a try in the near future.  

Click on the below  thumbnails for a larger view:
 

I left out a couple pixs of dipping the rolled chicken breast into the beaten eggs and rolling in the seasoned bread crumbs and it wasn't because of the "mess", I brain locked again....another grin is in order

This is a very fun recipe and according to my bride, "It was wonderful" of which I concur as well.

Web published by Bill aka Mickey Porter 01-04-09 with updated pixs on 04-27-13.

LEAVING ON A SPIRITUAL NOTE