While I’m presently a computer programmer, I’m not entirely certain that’s what I want to do for the rest of my life. I’ve been considering off-and-on the notion of dropping everything I’m doing and applying to culinary school somewhere, because I think I’d have a blast doing it. In the meanwhile, I’m going to cook and bake and try things, just to see what happens.
Last night, I made a sort of variation on chicken cordon bleu. I took chicken breasts, cut a pocket into them, stuffed said pocket with honey mustard and cheddar cheese, and wrapped the whole thing in a thin slice of prosciutto. I then applied an egg wash, some panko, and pan-seared the things before putting them in the oven at 400F for 20 minutes.
They came out fairly well, but I’d definitely keep a few things in mind for next time. First, I probably want to get the prosciutto more thinly sliced. I’d never worked with it before, so I had no idea what exactly to expect; the flavor was great but a little too salty, and it was hard enough to cut with a knife that it just slid around on the chicken. The chicken itself was delicious, and I don’t need to salt it at all, as it will get plenty of that from the prosciutto. I think I’d stay away from extra-sharp cheddar next time as well, although I’m less sure about that.
I also think that next time I try something like that I’ll borrow my mother’s meat pounder (I’m not sure where she got it but it’s very similar to this) to see how I like that approach. The previous times I’ve stuffed chicken, making sure that nothing leaked out hasn’t been a priority, but the cheese pretty much melts out and causes a mess and I’m wondering if maybe it would be easier to deal with that if I had more control over the shape of the chicken. I guess I should also probably use a mix of cheeses that will melt more nicely as well, but that’s research I wasn’t at all willing to do last night.
All-in-all, it was a reasonable first try. There are definitely some things I could improve on the next time, but I think it was successful enough to warrant said next time.
