Guest post from Vlad Unguryan – Sous Chef of Vitella’s NYC catering

Since the beginning of my journey into the culinary arts I’ve been sharing meals and experiments with my best friend from college, Michelle. Fast forward 5 years and we are roommates living in Jersey City and working in Manhattan, though with conflicting schedules, our dinner dates have become much less frequent. We recently made our way to the awe-inspiring Murrays Cheese shop in the West Village. Needless to say, when you walk in the smell alone is enough to make you buckle at the knees. A half hour of tasting and ordering later we had over $50 dollars worth of cheese and prosciutto, and it was time to head home for an overdue dinner date.

We took home a nice sharp gruyere and prosciutto di parma, so I decided to make chicken cordon bleu with a side of risotto. Making this requires:

The thing with chicken cordon bleu is that you can make it a few different ways–it all depends on how much time you have and your skill level. Since we had plenty of time and I’m no slouch, I did it the traditional way. I sliced the chicken breast thin and pounded it with a meat tenderizer. Afterwards, I put shredded gruyere and the prosciutto on top of the chicken and rolled it up. The result is a layer of chicken, cheese and pork that looks like a spiral. Once you have that, flour the spirals, dip them in beaten egg, and then cover them with bread crumbs (I use panko for an extra crunch).  Bake them at 425 degrees for a solid 20-25 minutes until they are nice and golden.

Before I put the chicken in the oven I get started on the risotto; it takes almost 40-45 minutes to make properly. It can be a tedious task but it’s worth all the effort and it’s not as complicated as you may think. You just need a lot of warm stock and some patience. Start by sauteing some onions and garlic in butter. Then add the rice–two cups is more than enough for two servings. The difference between making risotto and simple white rice is that you don’t add all the liquid at once. Instead, add a ladle of it at a time and stir until each ladle has been mostly absorbed. The arborio rice, which is used to make risotto, is very starchy and takes awhile to release all of its starch. So, for 40 minutes you add a little liquid at a time and stir and stir until your rice is nicely translucent and slightly al dente. This process makes for a creamy and delicious consistency.

Once the risotto is complete you can opt for additional elements. In our case, we added peas and grated parmigiana reggiano. Michelle would never go for a meal with only one type of cheese. This meal was labor heavy but worth the hour+ it took to make. Cheers.