Chicken Cordon Bleu
I don't think this is the same Chicken Cordon Bleu you'd get if you ordered it in some fancy French restaurant, but that's what we've called it since I was old enough to request meals by name, so that's what I'm going to call it. Besides, the name literally means [s]"Chicken with Cheese"[/s]"Blue Ribbon Chicken", and that's close enough - No one I've fed this to has ever disliked it.
This has always been one of my favorite meals, and my Dad makes it for most special family occasions. Naturally, once I had my own kitchen, I wanted to make it, but it was one of those meals that didn't really have an official recipe. Through some trial and error, along with spying on Dad, I have come up with the following recipe.
First, cut the Swiss into small pieces - we're aiming for about 1cm cubes here.
Put the cubed cheese into a large bowl.
Add the sour cream and Cream of Mushroom soup.
Don't use low-fat sour cream. The extra water content will make the final product watery. I recommend using ever-so-slightly less than the full tub of sour cream, as well, to cut down on the water content. I usually use all but 1/4 cup of the sour cream.
Drain the juice from the can of mushrooms and chop them into small pieces, then add them to the bowl. For this, I use an automatic chopper. It's basically a set of blades that chop into whatever's in the chamber when you press down on the handle, then rotate a few degrees on the upswing. Hammering on the handle will mince pretty much anything into mush. If you cook often, a gadget like this is a real timesaver.
Chop the onion in a similar manner and add it to the bowl.
When I went into Wal-Mart and asked for Chipped Beef, they looked at me like I had unnecessary holes in my head, so here's a picture of what I ended up getting.
Chop the beef into tiny pieces. If you freeze the beef first, it's much easier to cut without having it go all over the place.
Add the chopped chipped beef to the bowl.
Stir the contents of the bowl well. Make sure the cheese chunks are evenly distributed throughout the mixture. It should look like this when you're done.
Next, we're going to prepare the chicken.
You need to take the chicken, trim off as much of the fat as you can, then rinse it under running water and pat it dry with a paper towel. Place the breasts into the baking dish once they're dried. Remember, chickens are filthy creatures who can never know the true meaning of love, so wash anything that comes into contact with the raw chicken very well.
Dump the sauce on top of the chicken.
Spread the sauce out carefully. Make sure that it touches the edge of the pan. If you don't have a good seal around the edge, the chicken will dry out while it bakes. Put the chicken into an oven preheated to 350F. It will need to cook for at least an hour and a half. Check it occasionally, and if it looks like it's turning brown too quickly, put some aluminum foil over the dish. I've never needed to do this, although that's probably because my oven works about as well as you'd expect from a kitchen appliance the landlord stole from a homeless guy.
While the chicken is baking, we can start on the Mashed Potatoes
You'll need:
8-10 medium potatoes. As many as you want to eat, really.
3/4 stick of butter
1/4 cup milk
First, peel the potatoes. Rinse each one carefully and put them in a pot. Fill the pot with water until the potatoes are just covered.
Crank the stove up to high and boil the potatoes. The potatoes need to be boiled until they're soft - This can easily take 30-40 minutes, so plan accordingly. As a rule of thumb, if you stick a fork into a potato and it easily slides off when you try to lift it, they're done. Another good indicator is that small pieces of the potato flake off easily, as you can sort of see in the next picture.
Once the potatoes have been boiled soft, pour them into a colander.
With the water drained off, put the potatoes into a mixer bowl. My mixer lacks an official bowl, so I just put them back into the pot. Chop the butter into pats and add it to the potatoes, along with the milk. Beat the potatoes at about 80% of your mixer's capacity (100% if you have a weak mixer). Add more milk or butter if you don't have enough liquid. You can also add salt and pepper at this stage, but I didn't, since I was cooking for guests with very different tastes.
The picture of the finished potatoes didn't turn out, but we all know what mashed potatoes look like.
Here's what the chicken should look like when it's done. My stovetop isn't usually that filthy, but the potatoes boiled over earlier and made a mess.
Serving suggestion:
Fish out a chicken breast and cut it into bite-size pieces, then mix it into the mashed potatoes. Spoon the sauce over the top, and add salt and pepper to taste.
Once all the breasts have been eaten, there's usually some of the sauce left over. I usually make up some rice, mix the leftover sauce in with it, and make another meal out of it.
I don't think this is the same Chicken Cordon Bleu you'd get if you ordered it in some fancy French restaurant, but that's what we've called it since I was old enough to request meals by name, so that's what I'm going to call it. Besides, the name literally means [s]"Chicken with Cheese"[/s]"Blue Ribbon Chicken", and that's close enough - No one I've fed this to has ever disliked it.
This has always been one of my favorite meals, and my Dad makes it for most special family occasions. Naturally, once I had my own kitchen, I wanted to make it, but it was one of those meals that didn't really have an official recipe. Through some trial and error, along with spying on Dad, I have come up with the following recipe.
quote:
Ingredients:
6 chicken breasts
1 lb Swiss cheese (cut into small pieces)
1 16oz tub of sour cream
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 small can of mushrooms (drained and chopped)
1 medium onion (finely chopped)
2 packages of chipped beef (cut into small pieces)
9X13" baking dish
Recipe:
Mix the Swiss cheese, sour cream, Cream of Mushroom soup, chopped mushrooms, chopped onions, and dried beef in a large bowl.
Trim the fat from the chicken breasts, then rinse under running water.
Pat breasts dry and arrange in baking dish.
Spread sauce over breasts, taking care to form a seal around the outer edge of the dish.
Bake at 350F for at least an hour and a half. If the top starts to get too brown, cover the dish with aluminum foil.
Makes about 6 servings.
First, cut the Swiss into small pieces - we're aiming for about 1cm cubes here.
Put the cubed cheese into a large bowl.
Add the sour cream and Cream of Mushroom soup.
Don't use low-fat sour cream. The extra water content will make the final product watery. I recommend using ever-so-slightly less than the full tub of sour cream, as well, to cut down on the water content. I usually use all but 1/4 cup of the sour cream.
Drain the juice from the can of mushrooms and chop them into small pieces, then add them to the bowl.
For this, I use an automatic chopper. It's basically a set of blades that chop into whatever's in the chamber when you press down on the handle, then rotate a few degrees on the upswing. Hammering on the handle will mince pretty much anything into mush. If you cook often, a gadget like this is a real timesaver.
Chop the onion in a similar manner and add it to the bowl.
When I went into Wal-Mart and asked for Chipped Beef, they looked at me like I had unnecessary holes in my head, so here's a picture of what I ended up getting.
Chop the beef into tiny pieces.
If you freeze the beef first, it's much easier to cut without having it go all over the place.
Add the chopped chipped beef to the bowl.
Stir the contents of the bowl well. Make sure the cheese chunks are evenly distributed throughout the mixture. It should look like this when you're done.
Next, we're going to prepare the chicken.
You need to take the chicken, trim off as much of the fat as you can, then rinse it under running water and pat it dry with a paper towel. Place the breasts into the baking dish once they're dried.
Remember, chickens are filthy creatures who can never know the true meaning of love, so wash anything that comes into contact with the raw chicken very well.
Dump the sauce on top of the chicken.
Spread the sauce out carefully. Make sure that it touches the edge of the pan. If you don't have a good seal around the edge, the chicken will dry out while it bakes. Put the chicken into an oven preheated to 350F. It will need to cook for at least an hour and a half. Check it occasionally, and if it looks like it's turning brown too quickly, put some aluminum foil over the dish. I've never needed to do this, although that's probably because my oven works about as well as you'd expect from a kitchen appliance the landlord stole from a homeless guy.
While the chicken is baking, we can start on the Mashed Potatoes
You'll need:
8-10 medium potatoes. As many as you want to eat, really.
3/4 stick of butter
1/4 cup milk
First, peel the potatoes. Rinse each one carefully and put them in a pot. Fill the pot with water until the potatoes are just covered.
Crank the stove up to high and boil the potatoes. The potatoes need to be boiled until they're soft - This can easily take 30-40 minutes, so plan accordingly. As a rule of thumb, if you stick a fork into a potato and it easily slides off when you try to lift it, they're done. Another good indicator is that small pieces of the potato flake off easily, as you can sort of see in the next picture.
Once the potatoes have been boiled soft, pour them into a colander.
With the water drained off, put the potatoes into a mixer bowl. My mixer lacks an official bowl, so I just put them back into the pot. Chop the butter into pats and add it to the potatoes, along with the milk. Beat the potatoes at about 80% of your mixer's capacity (100% if you have a weak mixer). Add more milk or butter if you don't have enough liquid. You can also add salt and pepper at this stage, but I didn't, since I was cooking for guests with very different tastes.
The picture of the finished potatoes didn't turn out, but we all know what mashed potatoes look like.
Here's what the chicken should look like when it's done. My stovetop isn't usually that filthy, but the potatoes boiled over earlier and made a mess.
Serving suggestion:
Fish out a chicken breast and cut it into bite-size pieces, then mix it into the mashed potatoes. Spoon the sauce over the top, and add salt and pepper to taste.
Once all the breasts have been eaten, there's usually some of the sauce left over. I usually make up some rice, mix the leftover sauce in with it, and make another meal out of it.