A Last Minute Easter Dinner

Having literally just gotten off a plane leaving this....

only 12 short hours before thinking about Easter dinner or plans weren't yet on our list .

T's entire family had been with us in Mexico this go round and we all arrived in on different late flights Saturday night so we didn't really make any big family Easter plans this year.

So we decided to play it by ear and see if sometime in the late afternoon we might be in the mood to do some Easter themed cooking. And no big surprise by noon once jet lag had wore off we were indeed in the mood.

We put together our simple, small menu:

Crab Stuffed Deviled Eggs

Small Kurobota Ham with an Ancho Chile Glaze

3 Cheese Potato Gratin with Roasted Jalapeno

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with  Hazelnut Ancho Chile Butter



And we were glad we make the last minute decision to go for it. We had a great meal with our favorite flavors. Ham cooked on the grill..... it was a perfect "We're sad to have left Paradise but also always glad to be home dinner." Served with a newly released Mercer Pinot Gris.

GCC: Chicken Cordon Bleu with Mushrooms

This week one of our Gutsy Cooks Club choices was Chicken Cordon Bleu. Evidently The 4th is Chicken Cordon Bleu Day (?) who knew. So I decided to go with it. To be honest when you read this we will be soaking up the sun & margaritas in Mexico and this dish will be a memory. But with only a few days before vacation a recipe that was simple and would leave no leftovers was in order.

I decided to do only a small 'gutsy' move on this one by adding sauteed mushrooms. I love the combo of swiss cheese and mushrooms together.

 This version was an Emeril via Martha recipe.

I started with pulling together the ingredients.

The first step was to slice the chicken breasts and then pound them between plastic wrap,

while I sauteed the mushrooms with some chopped garlic.

I then layered the swiss cheese, ham & mushrooms between the chicken slices like a sandwich

and secured the chicken with toothpicks.

Next I set up the breading station. I mixed the flour with some Johnny's seasoning and spicy Mrs. Dash (we don't keep Emeril's Essence in the pantry.)

I also used panko instead of regular bread crumbs and started dipping the chicken in the flour, then the egg/milk mixture then finally in the panko.

The chicken breasts then get browned on the stovetop before going into the oven to cook through.

They turned out pretty good, I went light on the saute to avoid my dreaded "fried kitchen" odor and they just lacked a little something?  We served the chicken with some steamed asparagus and coucous.

The addition of the mushrooms was just as good as I predicted it would be.

Recipe Link