Or as our guest sailor today would call them, “Doigts de Poulet Cordon Bleu.”  Ace and his dad Wendell joined us today to see how fast we could cross Lake Pontchartrain, sailing to New Orleans and back.  Your Galley Pirate wasn’t quite sure what eleven year olds eat, and surveyed several scalleywags who reliably reported “chicken fingers.”  Then we were reminded that Ace spends most of his school day speaking french, and might have more affinity for B’haute Cuisine than your average swab.  So we made it Cordon Bleu, and made Ace the tactician for the day.

Cordon Bleu Chicken Fingers

12 chicken tenderloins
8 ounces thin-sliced deli ham
12 slices Swiss cheese
2-1/2 tablespoons butter
1 cup plain breadcrumbs
1/4 finely grated Parmesan
1/2 cup flour
Sea salt and ground black pepper
2 eggs
1 cup plain yogurt
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Here’s the big jibe rounding the mark just outside New Orleans — Ace ordering his grinder (dad) to get that jib in!  This was a welcome change in point of sail for your Galley Pirate because it was 1pm, crew was getting hungry, and this is what it looked like in the galley:

Hard to set up breading stations when you’re beating to wind and heeled over that far.  So … the following instructions are in order according to what I could do before the change, and what had to wait until the glorious calm of a beam reach home.

When folks told me “kids eat chicken fingers” I went looking for a recipe, because you do NOT eat prepared frozen food in my galley if I can help it.  I found a Martha Stewart recipe for ham-wrapped chicken fingers and thought “Arrrrr, you add Swiss cheese and you got Cordon Bleu!”  Et, voila: place a piece of ham (or two…mine were small, and two stacked as shown was the right sized to wrap), break a piece of cheese in half and put one on the bottom and the other on top of a chicken tenderloin.  Wrap the ham around the whole thing and place on a parchment-covered baking sheet.  Preheat your galley oven to 375 degrees.

Do what you can to set up your breading stations, get sides together … really anything you can do before the Captain calls a tack and gets you back on an even keel.  Beat the eggs with a splash of water in one bowl; season the flour with a couple of teaspoons of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper in another bowl.

When you’re safely back to parallel, melt the butter (I used a metal pie pan so that I could just stick it in my preheating oven) and combine with the breadcrumbs and Parmesan.  Dredge each ham packet first in flour, then in egg, and finally in the breadcrumb mixture, pressing it on to coat.  Place back on the parchment lined sheet until all are done.

Pop in the preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes (I usually add five minutes to get the wee oven back up to temperature after opening it to put them in) — when the breadcrumbs are lightly-browned and the chicken is cooked through (cut into one … Pirate’s prerogative.)

While the fingers are baking, mix the yogurt and Dijon together for a dipping sauce.  Plate with some raw vegetables that the kid can throw overboard, but reply honestly to his mother later that he was served vegetables.

Serve to a hungry crew and watch the afternoon reach-naps ensue!

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Cordon Bleu Chicken Fingers

Course: Main Course

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 12 chicken tenderloins
• 8 oz thin-sliced deli ham
• 12 slices Swiss cheese
• 2-1/2 tbsp butter
• 1 cup plain bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 eggs
• sea salt and ground black pepper
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 3 tbsp Dijon mustard

Instructions

• Lay out one or two ham slices in a configuration that will allow them to be wrapped around the cheese/chicken.  Break a piece of cheese in half and put halves on either side of a chicken tenderloin.  Lay cheese/chicken in middle of the ham slice and wrap.
  
• Put flour in one dish and season with salt and pepper.  Place eggs in another dish and beat with a splash of water.  Melt butter in a third dish and mix well with breadcrumbs and Parmesan.
  
• Dredge each ham/cheese/chicken packet first in flour, then in egg, then in breadcrumb mix, pressing to coat well.  Place on parchment-lined baking sheet.  Bake in oven preheated to 375 for 25-30 minutes, or until bread crumbs are golden brown and chicken is done.
  
• Mix yogurt and Dijon mustard for a dipping sauce, and serve.
  

Notes