Chicken Cordon Bleu is one of our favorite recipes to make. I made this recipe for Mariya when we first started dating, about 3 years ago. Before that, she had never had it before, but I wanted to impress her, so I decided to make this for her. Since then, it is her most requested dish. Many times when we were still in college, I would make Chicken Cordon Bleu at my apartment when Mariya had a late class. I would pack it all up into tupperware and meet her as she was getting home at her place so we could have a nice dinner together. These days we are able to make it together and enjoy time together in the kitchen.
Once you try this recipe, you too will discover how amazing the creamy wine sauce that covers this dish is. Mariya douses the whole plate in sauce, and a few times we have doubled the sauce quantity, just to have extra sauce. We reccomend you serve this dish with egg noodles or angel hair pasta and use the sauce from the chicken with the pasta. You will not be disappointed.
What You Will Need:
To get started with this recipe, I reccomend getting the chicken, ham, and Swiss organized. You will need about one slice of ham and 1/2 slice of the Swiss for each pinwheel. I like to get just enough ham and Swiss out for this recipe so that I use all of it, so I don’t cross-contaminate with the chicken.
You will need a tenderizing hammer to pound the chicken breasts out. You want to try to pound the chicken until all of the pieces are about equal in thickness. Once the chicken is ready, it is time to begin forming the pinwheels. For each pinwheel, take 1 slice of ham and fold it in the middle of the chicken piece, then layer 1/2 slice of Swiss on top. Now you want to form a roll out of the chicken. Starting at one end of the piece, begin rolling the pinwheel, making sure to keep the ham and Swiss inside the roll. Use a toothpick or two to hold the pinwheel together. Repeat until all of your ingredients are used.
Once the pinwheels are completed, you will want to grab a small bowl and mix together the 3 TBSP of flour and 1 TSP of paprika. Lightly coat each of the pinwheels in this mixture then set aside on a plate.
Heat a large skillet (We reccomded a regular pan, not non-stick, as it seems to help with flavor development) over medium heat and melt the 6 TBSP of butter. With the butter melted, add in the pinwheels, making sure that they have contact with the butter. Slowly rotate the pinwheels until all of the sides are slightly browned. Don’t cook the chicken fully at this stage, just cook the outside so it’s no longer raw.
Now it’s time to add the wine and the chicken base! Lower the heat to medium-low and pour in the wine and add the chicken base or bullion cube. Give the liquid a stir to incorporate the wine, butter, and chicken base. Once it’s well mixed, bring the pan to a simmer and then put a cover on and set a timer for about 10 minutes.
10 minutes are up, so it’s now time to rotate the pinwheels in the pan. Once you have flipped everything, set another 10 minute timer. Rotate the chicken again after 10 minutes, and set a final 10 minute timer.
The chicken should be done now, but double check by making sure the juices run clear when you cut into a pinwheel. If the chicken looks good, grab a plate and remove all of the pinwheels from the pan. It is now time to make the amazing sauce. Grab the 1 cup of heavy cream and the 1 TBSP of corn starch. Start by adding the heavy cream to the liquid in the pan and then add in the corn starch with a whisk. At this stage, I usually raise the temperature a bit on the pan as the sauce thickens. Continue whisking until your desired thickness for the sauce is reached.
To serve Chicken Cordon Bleu, you will want to first remove the toothpicks from the pinwheels. Then place pinwheels onto plates and smother them with sauce and enjoy!