It’s asparagus season, and we’re binging hard. My go-to preparation is as a side dish, either roasted or grilled, tossed with nothing but olive oil and kosher salt and charred to sweet softness. But on occasion I like to give asparagus a well-deserved turn as a main dish. While obviously not vegetarian, this Asparagus Cordon Bleu is plant-forward, with the asparagus taking the place of the chicken in the traditional French dish.
Everyone knows Chicken Cordon Bleu, right? Boneless breasts are pounded thin and then fussily wrapped around a tiny scrap of ham wrapped around a miniscule block of cheese; then the breasts are breaded and baked and topped with a creamy sauce. I sound disparaging, I know – it’s just that I’ve always hated stuffing things into boneless chicken breasts. Does anyone out there sympathize? I can never get the chicken to close neatly around the filling no matter how hard I try. And the tiny amount of stuff I’m able to fit into that space inside the chicken is so pathetic that it’s barely noticeable by the time the dish makes it to the table. The final insult is the toothpick I always manage to overlook, which always shows up in John’s piece, and as he’s politely fishing it out of his mouth, I’m vowing never again to make anything that has to be held together with implements that splinter.
But recently when I was imagining what I could do with a gorgeous bunch of purple-tipped, just-picked native asparagus, I thought about all the dishes that deliciously pair asparagus with ham (or prosciutto, or bacon), and I thought about Cordon Bleu. Instead of being a meager stuffing, the ham and cheese became a generous (and easy) wrapper. No toothpicks necessary. For the sauce I enlisted one of my all time favorites, a creamy cremini mushroom sauce that’s so versatile you’re going to want to add it to your regular rotation as much more than just a topper for this asparagus dish. Ladle it over roasted chicken breasts or thighs, steaks, burgers, meatloaf, omelets, veggie dishes, hot open-faced turkey sandwiches, and anything else that can’t run away fast enough.
A sprinkle of buttered panko breadcrumbs stands in for the breaded coating in the original dish. The breadcrumbs soak up a little extra richness from the mushroom sauce as they brown and crisp under the broiler.
Use single-serving-sized gratin dishes as I did here, or arrange the bundles of wrapped asparagus in a row down the center of one large dish and ladle the sauce down the middle.
Prep tips, making this ahead, and what to do with leftovers:
- If you’d like to prep ahead, make the mushroom sauce up to several days in advance. You can partially assemble the dish ahead by wrapping the asparagus in the ham and cheese and arranging it in the dish. For the very best results, add the mushroom sauce and bake just before serving. If you must, you can bake the dish up to an hour ahead and then rewarm it in a 300-degree oven for a few minutes before serving.
- Enjoy leftovers within 2 days. Reheat in a 300-degree oven or in the microwave.
To see this dish as part of a country French spring dinner menu, read the post for Saturday May 15, 2021.
Asparagus Cordon Bleu
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus additional for the dish(es)
- ¼ cup panko breadcrumbs
- 16 medium-thick spears of fresh asparagus, about 8 ounces
- 16 thin deli slices of baked ham, about 12 ounces
- 8 large, thin deli slices of Jarlsberg or other Swiss cheese, about 12 ounces
- Mushroom Sauce (recipe follows)
Directions
- Step 1 Heat the oven to 400 degrees on the Roast setting. Lightly butter a large rectangular casserole dish, an extra-large oval gratin dish, or four individual-serving-sized gratin dishes. If using individual dishes, arrange the buttered dishes on a large baking sheet.
- Step 2 Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the panko and heat the breadcrumbs in the butter until they’re light toasted, about 3 minutes. Set the breadcrumbs aside.
- Step 3 Trim off the tough, woody ends of the asparagus spears.
- Step 4 Lay a piece of ham horizontally on a cutting board (with one of the long sides facing you). Top it with a second slice of ham and one piece of cheese. Place two spears of asparagus on the right edge of the rectangle of cheese/ham with their tips extending up beyond the edge of the ham. Roll everything up toward the left so the asparagus is wrapped in the cheese and ham. Place the roll in the dish or one of the smaller dishes, seam side down. Repeat with the remaining ham, cheese and asparagus, arranging the bundles in a single layer and alternating directions so the tips of the asparagus in each bundle point in the opposite direction from the last one.
- Step 5 Pour the mushroom sauce down the center of the dish or dishes, covering the center of the asparagus bundles but leaving the tips and the edges of the ham slices uncovered. You may not use all the mushroom sauce – reserve any leftover sauce for another use.
- Step 6 Roast the Asparagus Cordon Bleu on a middle rack of the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the asparagus spears, just until the asparagus is crisp tender.
- Step 7 Turn on the broiler. Sprinkle the buttered breadcrumbs over the mushroom sauce. Return the dish(es) to a rack in the top third of the oven and broil until the mushroom sauce is bubbling and the breadcrumbs are golden brown, 2 minutes.
Mushroom Sauce
The 1 tablespoon of onion soup mix you'll use here will barely make a dent in the quantity in the envelope. Use the rest for soup or dip and you'll barely notice that there's any missing. Or save the rest for future batches of this addictive sauce.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 cups cremini mushrooms (5 ounces), cleaned, stemmed and sliced
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons minced shallot (½ a medium shallot)
- 1¼ cups whole milk
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon dried onion soup mix, such as Lipton’s
- ¼ cup sour cream
- Tabasco sauce, to taste
Directions
- Step 1 Melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and season with a little salt and pepper. Sauté the mushrooms until they’ve given off their liquid and are starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the shallots and sauté 2 minutes more.
- Step 2 Heat the milk in the microwave for 2 minutes until hot. Meanwhile, stir the flour into the mushroom mixture. Cook and stir the mixture for 2 minutes. Stir in the onion soup mix until it’s incorporated.
- Step 3 Add the hot milk and stir until the milk and flour are blended and smooth. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture comes to a simmer. Lower the heat to medium low and cook until the sauce is thick and creamy, about 7 minutes.
- Step 4 Remove the skillet from the heat. Stir in the sour cream, one shake of Tabasco, ½ teaspoon of pepper, and ½ teaspoon of kosher salt if using Diamond Crystal, or ¼ teaspoon of Morton’s. Taste and add more Tabasco, salt and/or pepper if needed.
