Located in the heart of downtown Arnprior, Lumbertown Ale House is the only gastropub in the area. By featuring Ontario craft beer and wines on-tap, they work to maintain a local focus and offer what people expect from them; freshness and quality in an upscale cozy environment. Lumbertown Ale House is a Feast On certified restaurant, committed to sourcing Ontario grown and made food and drink.
This Chicken Cordon Bleu with Scalloped Potatoes recipe by Chef Mark Jones of Lumbertown Ale House is part of the Savour Ontario at Home series featuring top Ontario chefs and taste makers. Sign up to receive the complete digital collection of recipes at: savourontarioathome.ca.
Chicken Cordon Blue with Scalloped Potatoes
- prep time: 50 min
- cook time: 1.5 hours
- serves: 4
INGREDIENTS
Chicken Cordon Bleu ingredients:
- 4 Ontario chicken breasts
- 4 Ontario ham slices
- 1 cup shredded Maple Dale White Cheddar
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Breading Station (Optional):
- 2 Ontario eggs, beaten
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups breadcrumbs
Scalloped Potatoes:
- 4 Ontario Yukon Gold or Russet potatoes, medium sized, peeled
- 1 tsp Ontario garlic
- 1 ¼ cups local Ontario 2% milk
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 ¼ cup (tightly packed) Maple Dale Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
- ¾ tsp salt, divided as per below
- ¾ tsp black pepper, divided as per below
- ¼ tsp paprika
INSTRUCTIONS
Chicken Cordon Bleu instructions:
Slice chicken breast down the middle ¾ of the way so that you can open the chicken breast (like a book).
On a cutting board, lay a piece of plastic wrap that is at least 4x the size of chicken breast. Lay the opened chicken breast in middle of plastic wrap and then top with another piece of plastic wrap the same size as first one.
With a meat mallet, or heavy bottom saucepan, flatten out the chicken breast until about ½” thick, then take the top piece of wrap off and save to repeat process. Place pounded chicken breast to the side and repeat with the other 3 breasts.
Once all chicken breasts are pounded out, season both sides of chicken breasts with salt and pepper to taste.
Evenly spread 1 cup of shredded cheese over all 4 chicken breasts, then place 1 slice of ham on top of the cheese on each of the chicken breasts.
Roll each chicken breast from one end to the other, then use a toothpick to hold each together while you roll the others (ensure you roll tightly).
The breading station is optional. If you don’t want to bread, you can cook using a toothpick to hold the chicken together.
For breading, separate flour, breadcrumbs and beaten eggs into 3 separate bowls.
Remove toothpick from 1 chicken breast and roll in flour, then roll in egg and then finally roll in breadcrumbs, making sure you get an even coating all around the chicken.
Place breaded chicken on a pan sprayed with cooking spray or coated with a little oil.
Repeat steps 8 and 9 for the other 3 chicken breasts.
Cook at 350°F (177°C) for about 20-30 min, turning halfway through. Cook until internal temperature reaches 165°F (74)°C.
Scalloped Potatoes instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
In a medium pan, melt butter, add minced garlic, and cook for 1 min on low heat.
Add flour, nutmeg, cayenne, ¼ tsp salt, ¼ tsp pepper and cook till light brown in color and flour is cooked out (30sec to 1 min).
Whisk in milk until smooth, turn heat to medium, and cook until slightly thickened (consistency is approximately that of a cream soup, but do not thicken too much), remove from heat.
Thinly slice potatoes with knife (try to get thickness of about ¼”) and put in a container with cold water to stop from browning (if available, use mandolin or food processor to slice potato).
Remove sliced potatoes from water (make sure to shake off excess water) and toss in a bowl with paprika, ½ tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper, making sure to evenly spread seasoning.
In an oven proof casserole dish that has been greased with butter, spread 3 tbsp of milk sauce into the bottom of the dish and then spread a single layer of potato around the dish making sure to slightly overlap the potato slices.
Sprinkle a small amount of cheese over the potato layer.
Repeat steps 6-8 until all the potatoes are layered on top of each other like a cake. Be sure to save 3 tbsp of sauce and ½ cup of cheese to add to top of the potatoes later – the remaining sauce can be spread evenly over the top of the potatoes.
Cover with lid or tin foil and bake for 60 to 75 minutes.
Cook until internal temperature reaches 350°F (177°C), then pull from oven, remove lid and spread the 3 tbsp of sauce and cheese (saved from earlier) evenly over top of potatoes and broil for 5 minutes until the cheese is golden brown.
Pull from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.
