Baked Chicken Cordon Bleu – trying out Wondra

During my first 3 years of work, I needed to travel a lot to those small interior towns in BC.  I love checking out those local restaurants rather than eating at franchise chain.  In Trail, a small town whose population was only about 7000, surprisingly I found good cheap eats.  Cafe Michael was a Chinese owned French restaurant. The menu was not big, but their chicken cordon bleu was really good.  It’s not fine dining atmosphere and the side veggies were only carrots and broccoli.  Now,  I still miss their crispy chicken breast with ham inside and cheese oozing out.  I am sure they deep fry the chicken.  I recently read from Bon Appetit that Wondra superfine flour is perfect for breading meat and poultry before deep frying.

Why not try it baked?  healthier with no oil.  I skipped the butter too.

Baked Chicken Cordon Bleu with fresh thyme coating

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Pan-roasted Chicken with Mushroom and Rosemary

This recipe adapted from Food Network, with just a few changes to the original: used butter instead of olive oil, preheating oven to 375 degrees instead of 350 to lock the juice of the chicken, threw in extra ingredients as usual. Its method of pan-frying the chicken first then roasting it in the oven made the chicken so tender and juicy. It’s one of most tender chicken breast ever made at my home.

 

Pan-roasted chicken with mushroom and onions

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Malaysian Chicken Satay

My co-worker is a really good cook that owned a Malaysian restaurant before.  She knew that I am interested to learn authentic Malaysian dishes, so she made me extra peanut satay sauce from her catering and taught me what ingredients to use for marinating the meat.   Along with a recipe from my Malaysian cookbook, there’s the adapted version:

Chicken satay

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Mom bought me a block of cooked ham a few weeks ago and I never know what to do with it.  I always wanted to make cordou bleu once at home so I finally can make use of the metal pounder for the chicken.  I cooked without recipe first, then when I searched online, the method and ingredients are very close to the online recipe.  I used shredded mozarella cheese instead of Swiss slice, and 3 thick strips of ham instead a ham slice.  Also I added some chopped parsley along with the ham and cheese.

Baked chicken cordon bleu

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Lemon Thyme Chicken with Garlicky Skin

It’s time to pick some thyme from the aerogarden.

Because I am using organic chicken breast, I want to use all natural yet simple seasoning for the chicken.  It’s my first time ever buying organic meat.  The skin is thinner which leads to less oil.  Thus baking time needs to be 5 minutes shorter for juicy yet crispy chicken.  I asked my husband if he can taste any difference (of organic chicken)..  well,  not his tastebud.

Good-for-you organic meal along with side dishes:

• Organic potatoes tossed in fresh parsley, dill, olive oil, salt and pepper
• Brocc0lini (boil a pot of water, add some salt, then put broccolini in for 2-3 minutes)

Roasted Chicken Breast with Thyme and Lemon

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Herb crusted chicken thighs

Sour cream is expiring in one day.  I have to really change my habit of ignoring unused items until I realize it’s just a couple days BEFORE expiry.

I recalled I had followed an internet recipe a few years ago about dipping chicken thigh into plain yogurt then coat with breadcrumbs mixed with dried herbs.  I cannot find the same recipe, thus just throw in whatever may match the chicken thighs.

It turned out pretty good:  it’s spontaneously cooking, so I won’t bother to guess the measurement of ingredients I used.

Herb crusted baked chicken thighs

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