Camilla Isley

Prep time: 10 min
Rest time: 30 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 1 hour
Yield: 4 Pieces

Ingredients

8 oz Eggplant
4 slices Ham
4 slices Monterey Jack Cheese
1/2 cup Whole Bread Crumbs
1/2 cup Flour
8-10 Cherry Tomatoes
8 leaves Basil
1 pinch Salt
1 pinch Pepper

The original Cordon Bleu recipe is made with chicken instead of eggplants and it’s fried. This is a lighter, baked alternative. If you still want to fry it add to the ingredients enough seed oil to fill a frying pan.

Instructions

Before we start preparing the Cordon Bleu, we need to prepare the eggplants. Wash them and cut them in even slices of a quarter of an inch in thickness. When you have your slices stack them in a colander and sprinkle them with salt. Leave them to rest for at least half an hour. You will see that the eggplants will start a natural process of moisture perspiration.
After the 30 min have passed, dry the eggplants. I lay them on a clean kitchen towel and dab them with it. Preheat the oven at 400°F. I usually make the bread crumbs lightly toasting the bread while the oven heats up and then passing the bread in the food processor to crumble it.
Dice the cherry tomatoes in thin slices.
Pair your eggplant slices according to approximate diameter and lay the 4 bottom halves in a plate. Stack the slices with ham, a leaf of basil, and a slice of cheese. If your ham slice is bigger like mine, cut it in half and do a ham, basil, cheese, ham stack. Cut the excess ham and cheese that spill from the eggplant base and restack the scraps on top. Arrange the thin slices of tomato on the entire diameter. Cover with the remaining eggplant slice. Repeat for each Cordon Bleu.
Prepare the ingredients for the batter. Beat the eggs in a bowl with a pinch of salt and pepper. Fill a plate with flour and one with bread crumbs. Place the flour platter, eggs bowl, and bread crumbs platter in front of you in this order.
To prepare the Cordon Bleu begin by rolling the eggplant “sandwich” in the flour, then the eggs, and finally the bread crumbs.
Place the Cordon Bleu on a baking pan lined with parchment paper and bake for 20 min at 400°F. If you want to fry them, toss the Cordon Bleu in a frying pan filled with seed oil at 350°F for 15 min turning them halfway through. Garnish the finished Cordon Bleu with a leaf or two of basil.

Eggplant Cordon Bleu by Camilla Isley August-21-2015

Prep time: 2 hours 40 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 3 hours
Yield: 2/3 servings (2, 16 inch diameter Pizzas)

Ingredients

1 Pizza Dough
12 oz water
1 tablespoon Oil
16 oz Mozzarella Cheese
1 pinch Salt
3 leaves Basil

To prepare the dough please use my recipe clicking here. Keep in mind that the dough needs at least two hours to rise, so if you decide to make Pizza for dinner you have to plan in advance. I usually prepare the dough right after lunch and let it rest throughout the afternoon. Or you can buy ready made dough.

Instructions

Preheat the oven at 400°F. You should have your dough all risen and ready to rock. Very well, take it out of its bowl, or pack, and knead it until you have a smooth ball. Sprinkle the surface you’re working on with flour.
Start kneading the dough in a flatter round form squishing it with your hands and finger. When it’s flat enough spread it with a rolling pin. I would love to be able to spread the dough by making it fly above my head as they do in Italy, but for us mortals rolling pin it is. Roll until you reach your desired thickness (0.2-0.4 inches ideally).
Place the flattened dough on a pizza pan. This is key, do this before you add the toppings or it will end in tragedy. When I forget and have to move the already garnished Pizza it’s hell. I line the pan with parchment paper because it happened before that even if the pan was nonstick the pizza did stick.
If the dough is larger than the pan you can cut the borders with a knife and reuse the scraps.
Mix the tomato puree with the oil and salt and spread it on the raw pizza with a spoon.
Depending on the mozzarella you’re using and the dough thickness you chose you’ll have to do things differently. I suggest using fresh mozzarella, if you only find dried mozzarella it’s fine.
Dried mozzarella/Thick dough: dried mozzarella tends to cook and burn more quickly, so before you add it on top i suggest you precook the tomato garnished dough for about 7/10 minutes, then take it out of the oven add the mozzarella sprinkling it evenly on top and cook for another 5/10 minutes. At the same time a thick dough requires more time so a 5 minutes precook (even if using fresh mozzarella) is good.
Fresh mozzarella: mince it in the food processor and sprinkle it in on top of the tomato, cook the pizza for 15/20 minutes. Check for when the mozzarella becomes golden. I like it crispier so I leave it a bit longer, but you can adjust the cooking to your preferences. Do the first check 10 minutes in.
I prefer to cook one pizza first and then the other because this way they don’t “shadow” each other in the oven. When the first pizza is in, I repeat everything for the second one starting on step one. I cook pizza number two while we eat pizza number one.
Before serving the pizza I like to add some leaves of fresh basil.