Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

Mops is soon upon us and so I have been racking my brain to come up with a tasty dish to bring for the brunch...Someone else is already bringing a breakfast casserole and another a dessert and I wasn't feeling particularly fruity but rather more like a pasta since we don't really eat pasta here often. Then it hit me... Chicken. Cheese. Tangy mustard and PASTA! 

So here it is....

1 small rotisserie chicken de-boned or about 5 cups or so chopped chicken
1/2 pound deli ham. you could use a thin sliced or just buy an hunk and chop it into small chunks
12 oz. bad of egg noodles cooked to the lowest amount of time the package says
2 heaping cups shredded swiss cheese

The sauce
4 TBS butter
4 TBS flour
4-5 cups of whole milk
3 TBS Fresh squeezed lemon juice
2-4 TBS Dijon mustard (I like mine rather tangy so I lean more towards the 4 TBS)
squirt of regular yellow mustard 
1/2 TSP Salt and Pepper
3/4-1 TSP Paprika

The Topping
1 1/2 cup panko
4 TBS butter
1/2 TSP seasoning salt
1 1/2 TSP crushed dried parsley

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter a 9×13-inch baking dish. Set aside.

For the sauce:

Melt the butter in a large sauce pot over medium heat. When butter is melted, quickly stir in the flour to form a smooth roux. Do not brown! Once the roux is smooth and bubbly, slowly pour in the cold milk while stirring briskly to make a smooth sauce. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens. Stir in the lemon juice, mustards, salt, smoked paprika and white pepper. Bring sauce just back to a low boil and turn off heat. 

Assembly

In your noodle pot after draining the noodles pour your mustard roux and give a good stir. Add your shredded cheese, diced chicken and ham. Stir to combine and make sure your sauce is not to thick as the cheese will thicken it a bit. If you need to add a splash or 2 of more milk. Taste for seasonings to see if you need more mustard or lemon salt/pepper or paprika. 

Pour the casserole filling into your 9x13 dish

For the topping:

Melt the butter in the microwave in a medium sized microwaveable bowl. Heat it for 30 seconds at a time and stop once it’s melted. Take the bowl out of the microwave and stir in the panko bread crumbs, crushed dried parsley. Sprinkle over the top of the casserole.

Bake casserole uncovered for 45 minutes until hot and bubbly throughout and topping has turned a light golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes prior to serving.