Tortellini Cordon Bleu

The combining of French and Italian cuisine resulted in a nice pasta dish at our house last night...

Cordon Bleu is Francais for "blue ribbon"...and the original chicken Plat principal, or main course is yummy with its corn meal breading, enveloping chicken breast, ham and gooey swiss cheese.

Wanting the flavor without all the fuss (it has to be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated for some time before the cooking process), I blended all of this:

4 chicken breasts, cooked in a small amount of water and chopped into generous chunks.
1 pound 5-cheese blend tortellini (boil al dente)
1/3 # swiss cheese, sliced thickly (add to cooked, strained pasta returned to its boiling pot on med heat to melt)
1/2 - 1 c coarsely chopped smoked turkey "ham", or simply ham - we don't do much pork
1 c. heavy cream (pour over pasta & cheese)
3-4 T italian seasoning (grind in palm and add to pasta mixture)
1 T garlic granules (fresh would be better - I was in a hurry)
1 cup organic chicken broth
1 c cream - pour these into pasta pot, heat on med/med-hi to low boil
4 T corn starch - stir into 2 T cream to make thick paste. pour over bubbling sauce, cook until sauce is the thickness you like.

THEN TOSS IN:
1/4 c. dried cranberries, chopped randomly
2 tsp salt
4 T Marsala

Add chicken, stir well, serve hot with crusty bread and a yummy spinach salad. (Which, i should warn you, a 1-cup serving may take the average 11 year old a fair amount of time to eat. Ours did it in just under 2 hours)

Spinach salad

3 c. fresh spinach, de-stemmed, and chopped coarsely
1/4 c fresh grated parmesan or romano cheese
1/4 c dried cranberries
1/4 c pomegranate arils
1/8 c your favorite granola blend
1/2 c frozen, thawed petite peas

combine and drizzle over all:
1/4 c ranch dressing
1 1/2 tsp ginger
2 tsp garlic granules or powder

enjoy!!