Chicken Cordon Blue Pizza Roll Up - 52 Church PotLuck Lunches

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Sometimes you want a little something normal to look and taste special...

Here in God's Country (Kansas), we have something special, Shakespeare in the Park.  A chance to enjoy a night of fresh air, a little culture and a chance to picnic (food and even drink is allowed in the free area).  It has become an annual event for us and I always try to bring something fun...

Like a rolled up Pizza... Really, pizza dough, toppings and mustard for the sauce.  Just rolled up into a mini sandwich.

All the classic tastes of Chicken Cordon Bleu ( although not as classic as the name sounds, as the dish did not exist before the 1950's and was made popular as airline food (back in the day when it was exotic))... But I digress.

The dish is more of a process than a recipe since most of the ingredients are bought at the deli counter.  Thin sliced lunch meats with slices of cheese and a spicy brown deli mustard.

Just roll that pizza dough flat into a rectangle then add the toppings and roll up.  Add a little egg wash for color and some herbs for presentation pretty and you have a PIZZA... in a roll up sandwich.

Easy peasy.

But first... You can use any pizza dough recipe you like.  Here's my GOTO recipe.  It is easy, no rising and punching down, just mix, refrigerate and you are ready to go...

Here's what I do...

Pizza Dough

Ingredients

• 4-1/2 Cups COLD Flour (Measure flour and let it chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour or more)
• 1 large Pinch Salt
• 1 tsp Instant (quick rise) Yeast
• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
• 1-3/4 Cups COLD Water (measure the water, then add ice cubes for a few minutes, remove ice, or measure and put in the fridge for a few hours... Colder the better)

Cooking Directions

1. OK, did you read the 2 COLD ingredients. Takes an extra hour or two of planning, I measure the water and the flour and pop them in the fridge for a couple hours to get cold. The small amount of yeast, relative to the amount of flour and the cold will make for a flat bread, almost no fermentation (rise). Just enough to soften the taste, but not make a big rise.
2. In my pre Kitchenaid days, I mixed and kneaded this recipe in a gallon size ziplock bag. Worked great, largely I believe because of the oil in the recipe. Without that, the dough would be too sticky to mix in a bag. But this sure made clean up easy.
3. Mix the dry ingredients first
4. add the water and oil about a fourth of each at a time
5. mix well until all the flour is hydrated and you form a large dough ball in your bag
6. continue kneading for about 10 minutes, or if you use your kitchenaid, use the dough hook attachment, and allow the machine to knead for 7 minutes
7. And now, time to divide... Generously sprinkle a work surface with flour. Also, prepare 4 ziplock sandwich size bags (bigger works fine as well) by spraying the insides of them with spray canola oil.
8. Plop the dough ball into the flour and coat well. Divide into 4 equal parts (or fewer if you know you are making larger pizzas). Put each dough ball into a prepared ziplock bag and refrigerate at least 6 hours, and preferably overnight.

Once you have the dough, the rest is a simple matter of layers, rolling a baking...

OK... Here's what I did...

Chicken Cordon Blue Pizza Roll Up

Ingredients

• 1 Ball Pizza Dough
• 1/2 Pound Thin Sliced Deli Ham
• 1/2 pound Thin Sliced Deli Chicken
• 1/2 Pound Sliced Swiss Cheese
• 1/4 Cup Yellow Deli Mustard
• 1 Large Egg (Beaten for egg wash)
• 2 TBS Herbes de Provence

Cooking Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Stretch the ball of dough into a rectangle, on a floured surface, continue to roll out the dough until you have a rectangle about a foot and a half wide bu a foot tall.
3. Layer the sliced Cheese, Ham and Chicken lunch meat and drizzles of the Deli Mustard, leaving the top 1/4th of the rectangle empty.
4. Starting from the bottom, roll up the dough to form a tight log shape.
5. Pinch the edges, sides, any seams.
6. Use the beaten egg and a pastry brush to "wash" or coat the log. Especially the seams and the top.
7. Sprinkle the herbs on the top, using a knife point, make several slits in the log to release steam.
8. Bake for 45 minutes until the outside of the log is a golden toasted brown color.
9. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing to serve warm
10. Or chill overnight in the refrigerator and then slice for a cold sandwich... And ENJOY!

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This recipe has been added to my growing list of "52 Church PotLuck Dishes"!

A list of something NEW worthy of being shown off at a neighborhood BYODish (Bring Your Own Dish) Party, a Family special occasion dinner, Any Big Holiday Gathering or of course that glorious day when you bring a dish to share with your Church family...

Ages ago, literally almost a half century ago I was listening to our pastor talking about a PotLuck Dinner. It happened to be scheduled around a church work day when we were expected to weed, polish and do general cleaning and maintenance around the church (you know, back in the day when there were no no-wax floors and church pews smelled of Old English furniture polish). I am of course paraphrasing, but as I recall the pastor said,

"A potluck, like a church requires work. At a potluck everyone is expected to contribute.. At a church no one should come empty handed and no one should leave unfed".

I will confess that in my youth I brought more store bought plastic spoons and forks than I ever brought covered dishes and crock pots of fresh made love and caring delights. But now that I have become a hobbyist cook, I occasionally am reminded of those days and people from my youth. I reminded and I do wish that I could drop a dish of some new creation on those old tables at my fondly remembered Liberty Baptist Church.  Tables covered with newspapers and loaded with God's bounty prepared with love and caring... Enjoy

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