Chicken Cordon Bleu Over Noodles With Bacon Sauce

prep time:: 45 minutes
total time:: 1 hour

Serves 4

My mother was a full-time worker, as most mothers are today. I can remember many an evening when, after returning from a hard day’s work as a school teacher, she would open a can of cream of mushroom soup and pour it over a few chicken breasts with salt and pepper. She would cook some egg noodles and a vegetable, and that would be dinner. I loved it. So when I started cooking for myself, I would many times find myself in the same situation, and I would make the same meal. However, I would always try to improve upon it. One time with cheese, another time with sour cream. Adding this, adding that, until one day I had a revelation (one that probably would have come to any other intelligent person a long time ago). Why not make the soup from scratch? No... Why not make the make the soup from scratch, add bacon, and make the chicken into chicken cordon bleu? So, that is exactly what I did.

ingredients

Chicken Cordon Bleu:

4 chicken breast fillets
4 slices of provolone cheese
4 slices of ham
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup plain dry breadcrumbs
1/2 cup corn oil
all purpose flour, for coating

Bacon Sauce With Egg Noodles:

2 1/2 tbsp butter
1 tsp lemon juice
4 spring onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp thyme
3 mushrooms, sliced
1/2 tsp white pepper
7 strips bacon, precooked and chopped
chicken trimmings (from cordon bleu)
1 tbsp all purpose flour
4 cups chicken stock
pinch celery seeds
chicken trimmings
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tbsp all purpose flour (to thicken)
3 cups of egg noodles, boiled

directions

Chicken Cordon Bleu:

1
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2
2. With a fillet knife, trim the fat (make sure to get a little bit of meat too) off of each fillet and put aside for sauce. Slice each breast lengthwise through the center without cutting completely in half.
3
3. Insert a slice of ham and a slice of provolone cheese inside each fillet.
4
Season the flour and coat the outside of each fillet with it.
5
4. Dip each fillet into the egg and then promptly coat with bread crumbs.
6
5. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the chicken over medium heat until golden on each side.
7
6. Bake in oven for 20 to 30 minutes and then serve with sauce.

Bacon Sauce With Egg Noodles:

1
1. Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium heat and then fry the garlic, onion, and thyme. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Then add the lemon juice, mushrooms, white pepper, and some salt. Continue to stir occasionally.
2
2. Cook until the mushrooms just begin to brown and soften. Add the bacon and chicken trimmings and then cook for a minute or two longer.
3
3. Add the first tablespoon of flour and stir. Let cook for one minute more.
4
4. Simmer and begin to add the stock slowly while stirring gently. Next add celery seeds and bring to a boil. Continue to stir.
5
5. Reduce heat and stir in the cream. Mix the the remaining flour with 1/2 a cup or less of water at room tempterature and add to sauce.
6
6. Return to low medium heat and stir occasionally until sauce thickens.
7
Season with salt and pepper and serve over chicken cordon bleu and egg noddles.