Chicken Cordon Bleu W/ Italian Accent

I found this in the Chicago Tribune's Good Eating section. I never worked with Taleggio cheese before but loved it in this recipe. Taleggio is creamy and mellow but it's flavor changes according to how long it's been aged. It can become somewhat pungent if it's been aged for a longer time. It melts nicely. You can substitute goat cheese or Fontina cheese. Oh, and for the chicken...I buy big bags of frozen chicken breast halves and they're huge, so for this recipe I just used two halves, sliced them in half vertically and then pounded them....they're much easier to pound than a whole chicken breast half. But, I'm writing the recipe as I found it, with 4 chicken breast halves, OK, I'm talking too much so I'll shut up now. OK, just have to add this is a good after-work dinner.

• Ready In: 40 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 4  boneless skinless chicken breast halves
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
•  fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• 4  ounces taleggio, cut into 4 slices
• 8  slices prosciutto or 8  slices ham
• 1⁄2 cup  seasoned bread crumbs

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375°; spray an 11 x 7-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Pound chicken breasts to 1/4-inch thick.
2. Season chicken all over with the salt and pepper to taste. Place 1 slice of the cheese and 2 slices of the prosciutto (or ham) on the bottom (wide side) half of each chicken breast; fold top half over to cover cheese and prosciutto.
3. Place chicken breasts in baking dish; top with bread crumbs.
4. Bake until chicken is no longer pink and cheese has melted, 30-35 minutes.