Chicken Stuffed with Havarti and Asparagus

Asparagus is in season and I'm looking for ways to use this delicious vegetable. As a new cook, I am usually a stickler for a recipe, but I branched out and adapted a chicken cordon bleu recipe and instead of stuffing chicken with swiss cheese and ham, I used havarti and asparagus. In a word? Awesome.

This, I think, is the start of a slate of stuffed chicken recipes. Any recommendations?

Ingredients

• five chicken breasts
• five slices of havarti (from the deli)
• 10 spears of fresh asparagus
• 1 egg
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• 1 tbsp cornstarch

Directions 

Cut the bottoms off your asparagus and put in a microwave safe bowl with a little bit of water for about two-and-a-half minutes to cook them slightly.

Lay out your chicken, crack an egg into a bowl, put your bread crumbs in another bowl and wrap two asparagus spears in each slice of havarti.

Slice the chicken length-wise leaving a hinge on it. Insert a roll-up of cheese and asparagus.

Dip in egg followed by a dip in the bread crumbs and lay flat in a buttered oven-safe dish.

Repeat with each chicken breast. If you want, you can put toothpicks in at the seam to secure the chicken closed.

Put in oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

When there is about 10 minutes left for the chicken, in a pot, whisk together the heavy cream, wine, bouillon cube and cornstarch. Bring to a boil and then let simmer, whisking often while the sauce thickens.

Once you've plated the chicken, spoon a couple tablespoons of the cream-wine sauce on top of the chicken.

Download a printable recipe for Chicken Stuffed with Havarti and Asparagus