On a recent trip to points south, I was once again reminded how inhumane air travel can be these days. You have to seal everything in a 1-quart bag. You must submit to a general turn-and-cough physical just to clear security. You can’t bring water, so you pay about $74 for a small bottle of Aquafina after you get to the terminal. You take your assigned center seat, only to get glared at by your neighbors as if it’s your fault they don’t get the whole row to themselves.
You realize you’re seated just in front of the exit rows, so you can’t recline, a restriction which doesn’t apply to the person in front of you, who is about 18 inches shorter and 28 years younger but still needs to lean as far back into your lap as possible.
And for the next three hours, you starve while some guy across the aisle breaks out a Big Mac, stinking up the whole plane with the stomach-seducing aromas. Later, you find out you paid twice as much as the person who purchased their ticket 10 minutes before you did.
Grumble.
It makes me long for the old days, when there was food — even in coach. maybe wasn’t spectacular, but it was good. (These days, you can get decent fare in the upper-class cabins — if you fly Lufthansa, you can score excellent food from local chef Andres Jiminez, who directs Lufthansa’s menu but also cooks at the Ritz in downtown Denver).
To salve my weary nerves when I got home, I made myself the supper I should have had up in the air: Chicken cordon bleu, using this recipe from Cook’s Country magazine. It was simple and tasty and even if it took some time, it was easy to do. I only wish it had been served by a chic Pan Am flight attendant in a pillbox hat as we cruised toward, say, Rio.
Foolproof Chicken Cordon Bleu
From “Cooks Country” magazine, April/May issue. Visit to subscribe.
Ingredients
25 Ritz crackers (about 3/4sleeve)
4 slices hearty white sandwich bread, torn into pieces
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
8 thin slices deli ham
2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 pounds total)
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 cup all-purpose flour
Directions
Make crumbs: Adjust oven racks to lowest and middle positions and heat oven to 450 degrees. Pulse crackers and bread in food processor until coarsely ground. Drizzle in butter; pulse to incorporate. Bake crumbs on rimmed baking sheet on middle rack, stirring occasionally, until light brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to shallow dish. Leave oven on.
Stuff chicken: Top each ham slice with 1/4-cup cheese and roll tightly, set aside. Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Cut pocket in thickest part of chicken and stuff each breast with 2 ham-and-cheese rolls. Season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper. Transfer chicken to plate, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 20 minutes.
Coat and bake: Beat eggs and mustard in second shallow dish. Place flour in third shallow dish. One at a time, coat stuffed chicken lightly with flour, then dip into egg mixture, then dredge in crumbs, pressing to adhere. Transfer chicken to clean baking sheet. Bake on lowest rack until bottom of chicken is golden brown, about 10 minutes, and then move baking sheet to middle rack and reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees. Bake until golden brown and chicken registers 160 degrees, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board, tent with foil, and let rest 5 minutes. Serve.
