Janice Tripepi

Crunchy Crumbed Chicken Breasts Oozing Melted Cheese, Mushrooms and Ham.

Well, Elena Norgalieva must have eaten a bowl of my pasta before she ran the Comrades yesterday!  What a champ she is!  She ran like the wind and came in first running her best Comrades Ultra Marathon time yet.

I must admit that I am getting very excited for my upcoming trip to Cape Town and the Food Bloggers Indaba on the 24th of this month.  I couldn’t make it last year and have felt cut  off from the blogging world for the longest time.  I will be staying on for a week; so I look forward to meeting up with as many of you as possible and am available to bread bread and sup vino infinito!    If any of you are toying with the idea of attending the Indaba – don’t hesitate.  I know that Colleen has been working her magic for ages now and the day is going to be fantastic.   It’s such a fabulous opportunity to meet the blogging community, to pick up tips and gain knowledge that will help you to improve your blog.  Not to mention the goodie bags – LUFFLIE!!!  But most of all, it just wonderful to meet and chat with the faces behind all your wonderful blogs.

Today I am posting a retro 80’s meal.  Cotolette ripieni, or as we used to call them, good ol’ chicken cordon bleu. They were right up there with crumbed stuffed mushrooms in the eighties.  Now that I think about it; the eighties could have been the decade of the bread crumb Fo Sho!    These are easy to prepare and can be frozen very successfully.  Hubby can pull out a few of these stuffed chicken breasts when I am away in Cape Town and bob’s your uncle, he has an easy meal which can be served with a nice salad or some veggies in a flash.  The Tripepi eat these like popcorn!

Monique, my housekeeper loves cooking but doesn’t really get much opportunity to cook with TrickyRicky and I monopolising the kitchen.   Monique is the reigning queen of Cotolette (crumbed chicken breast) and Cotolette Ripieni (stuffed crumbed chicken breasts) in la casa Tripepi.  I have no doubt that she will stuff my suitcase with packets of these for my son Daniele when I go to Cape Town.   I just love her!

 Cotolette Ripieni

Serve with wedges of fresh lemon.

Mushroom, Ham &  Cheese Stuffed Crumbed Chicken Breasts

I find that men will eat at least two of these as part of a two course dinner – ladies usually on manage one each, so

adjust your quantities according to your guest list.

I am often painfully  aware of the amount of imported ingredients that my recipes are laden  with.  I appease my conscience by  planting herbs, trees and recycling all and sundry in an effort to reduce my  carbon footprint.  This is one of those  instances when local is totally lekker!  Our local hams and cheeses are perfect for these.

Ingredients

As you can see from this pile of flattened chicken breasts ... I make lots!

8 chicken breasts –  cut them open, open the chicken up like a book and bash them flat with a meat hammer.

8 slices of smoked  provoloneor emmental cheese  and 8 slices of Mozarella cheese – in fact, you can use your favourite
cheese.  A good melting cheese is great as it goes all gooey when fried.

8 slices of smoked  ham

400g mushrooms sliced  and fried in some garlic, oregano, salt & pepper

3 eggs beaten lightly  in a bowl

1 cup of flour –  seasoned with salt & pepper

2 cups of bread crumbs

Oil for frying

Lemons to serve with the cotolette.

Method

Cut each chicken  breast open by slicing it in half and opening it up like a book.
Open it up and gently flatten it with a meat hammer.  You don’t want your chicken to be too thick
as you want the heat from the hot oil to penetrate quickly and melt the cheese  in the centre.

Lay each breast flat  and top with a slice of ham, then a slice of cheese , I like to use a slice of smoked provolone or emmental with a slice of mozarella.  the Mozarella goes all runny and gooey and oozes out when you cut them open after frying them.

Place the cheese on the flattened chicken breast.

Add a slice of smoked ham - I use smoked ham as it has loads of flavour.

And finally a spoonful of  the fried mushrooms in the middle.

And finally the mushroom fried in garlic, salt & pepper.

Season with salt  & pepper and fold in half.  Close each piece of chicken up with three wooden tooth picks.

Close the three open sides with a toothpick but do remember to tell your guest to remove them before eating them.

Now for the crumbing …..

Coat each piece of  chicken with flour

Coat both sides in seasoned flour.

Then pop into the beaten egg

Dunk into the beaten egg.

And lastly coat well  with bread crumbs.  Use the heel of you  hand and press the crumbs firmly onto each piece of chicken.

Coat both sides with bread crumb then refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

Place on a plate or  in a plastic box and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

By doing this you  ensure that your crumbs don’t fall of in the frying process.

Heat your oil in a  frying pan – when you put a piece of chicken into the oil, it must bubble.  If you oil is hot enough the crumbs don’t
absorb oil.  When lightly golden remove carefully  and drain on a piece of kitchen towel.

Serve with lemon wedges and your  choice of veggies.

The combinations
of fillings are endless.  Here are a few
options

Plain mushroom &  cheese

Feta & Sundried  tomatoes with some oregano.

Camembert, Bacon  & Preserved Figs with fresh thyme.

Coppa, Olives &  sundried tomatoes with fresh basil

Spinach fried in  onion, garlic and lemon with olives or mushrooms with some fresh mint

Prawns in thick  tomato & chilli sauce

Remember to make  extra and freeze them for another meal.

Today I am doing a bit of DIY – I found an awesome idea on Pinterest to Organise my Herb

& Spice drawer.

As always

Buon Appetito

Jan

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