Chip Challenge #2 - Chicken Cordon Bleu

Me: What are cooking this week?

Y: Chicken Cordon Bleu.

Me:...That's not a vietnamese dish...

Y: Vietnamese dishes are so complicated to make!

Me: But that's the whole purpose of Chip Challenges...for you to prepare vietnamese dishes because I don't know how to make them...That's why it's called a Challenge!

Y:.......I'm making Chicken Cordon Bleu.

Me: -_-

So there you go. No more vietnamese dishes for the Chip Challenges. That's fine with me because Y's Chicken Cordon Bleu was a-ma-zing! I saw this recipe on Allrecipes and wanted to make it for quite some time, but I always seemed to be missing one or two ingredients for the dish. To be honest, I don't know if I could've made it as tasty as Y did. He did such a great job! :) I'm drooling just looking at pictures! haha

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Adapted from Allrecipes

Serves 3

Ingredients

3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

3 slices Swiss cheese (Y used mozzarella cheese because we didn't have any Swiss)

3 slices ham

1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup dry white wine

1/2 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules

1/2 tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

2 teaspoons dried basil

Directions

1. Pound chicken breasts until they are 1/2 inch thick. Place a cheese and ham slice on each breast within 1/2 inch of the edges. Fold the edges of the chicken over the filling, and secure with toothpicks. Mix the flour and paprika in a small bowl, and coat the chicken pieces.

2. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat, and cook the chicken until browned on all sides. Add the wine and bouillon. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

3. Remove the toothpicks, and transfer the breasts to a warm platter. Blend the cornstarch with the cream in a small bowl, and whisk slowly into the skillet. Cook, stirring until thickened, add basil and pour over the chicken.

The chicken was served with jasmine steamed rice and asparagus sauteed in butter. Yum!

Simply delicious! The chicken was moist and juicy and the wine sauce was to die for! Next time, we'll definitely use Swiss cheese and coat the chicken with bread crumbs instead of flour for some extra crispy-ness! The basil was a nice twist and added extra flavor to the sauce. I really enjoyed this. I love Chip Challenges! :)

Curry it up!

I wanted to do something simple and quick for dinner last night. And I needed to finish off the chicken that's been sitting in my freezer for a few weeks now. (I buy 1-2 chickens when they go on sale, cut them in pieces and put them in the freezer. I'm a student on a budget, so don't judge). I was looking for a recipe on allrecipes and decided to try this one out because of all the rave reviews. It turned out pretty good. I didn't care much for the curry aftertaste (I usually LOVE curry) . It may very well be because I was using the (cheap) curry powder that came with my spice rack. Mental note: Use good quality curry next time.

Honey Mustard Chicken

Adapted from allrecipes.ca

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

1 (3 pound) whole chicken, cut into pieces

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup prepared mustard

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoon curry powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Combine the melted butter, honey, mustard, salt and curry powder and dip the chicken pieces in the mixture. Place chicken pieces in a shallow baking pan, skin side up. Pour the rest of the mixture on the chicken.

3. Cover baking pan with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 30mins, basting every 15 minutes with pan drippings. Remove foil and bake the chicken uncovered for another 40mins or until the chicken is nicely browned and tender and the juices run clear.

I served it with jasmine steamed rice and steamed broccoli and cauliflower. Pour the sauce over the rice, it's delectable. Enjoy!