I hope everyone had a happy Easter! One of the things I love about holidays is leftovers! I have my favorite go-to recipes that are great for leftovers, but I’m always on the look out for new things to try. I found this recipe for Pasta Cordon Bleu on Pinterest and thought it would be a good way to use up leftover Easter ham. It seemed to be a fun take on Chicken Cordon Bleu only in a casserole!Â
Compliments of It’s a Keeper
www.everydaytastes.com
3 Tbsp butter
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chicken breast, cooked and cubed
1 cup deli ham, sliced thick and then cubed (or leftover Easter ham)
1 1/2 cups milk
2 Tbsp dijon mustard
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 lb. penne pasta, cooked and drained
2 cups Swiss cheese, shredded
Salt
Pepper
Cayenne Pepper
1 cup Panko Crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
In a skillet with high sides, melt butter over medium-high heat, saute onion until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds more. Stir in chicken and ham until warmed through. Add milk, cream cheese and mustard, stirring until the sauce becomes creamy. Add the pasta and cheese to the skillet. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne to taste.
Preheat the broiler.
Transfer pasta to a baking dish and top with Panko crumbs. Pour melted butter over crumbs and broil until browned. This should only take a few minutes. Â
Is It a Keeper?
I did make A LOT of tweaks to the original recipe. I read all of the reviews/comments with the original recipe and most said the recipe had potential but it lacked something. So, I added onion, garlic (of course!) and Dijon mustard.
The tweaks did add flavor to the dish, but it was sort of lack luster. Don’t get me wrong. It was good and the leftovers were even better. You could tell that the flavors really had a chance to work with each other. This recipe didn’t really tickle my fancy (I love that phrase…it makes me chuckle).  What do you think? Would you doctor this up any more? What is your favorite way to use up Easter leftovers?
Christina
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I really liked it. I used the philly garlic cooking creme instead of plain cream cheese. It gave it a burst of flavor.
Glad you liked it! Thanks for sharing your recommendations. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!