Homemade Oven-Baked Cordon Bleu

📝 Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts (600 g)
• 4 slices cooked ham (160 g)
• 60 g grated Emmental
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 30 g plain flour
• 2 eggs
• 80 g panko breadcrumbs
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 600 g fresh green beans
• 10 g unsalted butter
• 1 garlic clove
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Baking tray and baking paper
• Cling film
• Rolling pin
• 3 shallow bowls
• Large saucepan
• Cocktail sticks

📖 Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Butterfly each chicken breast: lay it flat and slice horizontally through the middle with a sharp knife, without cutting all the way through, then open it out like a book.
2. Place the opened breasts between two sheets of cling film and flatten them with the rolling pin to about 1 cm thick, tapping gently from the centre outwards. An even thickness ensures even cooking.
3. Season the inside with salt and pepper, spread a thin layer of mustard, then lay a slice of ham folded in half and 15 g Emmental on one half. Fold closed, pressing the edges firmly, and secure with one or two cocktail sticks.
4. Set out three shallow bowls: the flour in the first, the eggs beaten with a pinch of salt in the second, and the panko mixed with the olive oil in the third. The oil helps the breadcrumbs brown in the oven just as if they were fried.
5. Coat each cordon bleu in flour, tapping off the excess, then in the beaten egg, and finally in the panko, pressing with your palm so the breadcrumbs stick everywhere, edges included. Place them on the baking tray lined with baking paper.
6. Bake for 25 minutes at 200 °C, turning them carefully halfway through. They're ready when the coating is nicely golden and the chicken is white all the way through, with no trace of pink: check by cutting into the centre of one.
7. While they bake, top and tail the green beans and cook them for 8 to 10 minutes in the large saucepan of boiling salted water: they should stay slightly crunchy. Drain and run under cold water to set their colour.
8. Chop the garlic. In the emptied and wiped-out saucepan, melt the butter over a medium heat, add the garlic and green beans and sauté for 2 minutes to warm through. Season with pepper, remove the cocktail sticks from the cordons bleus and serve immediately.