Chicken Cordon Bleu with Mango Salad and Bean Salad

A slight head cold has put a damper on the long weekend's festivities and menus. Big bowls of Pho soup with extra herbs and garlic have lessened the symptoms butsuddenly there are hunger pangs. Drew offers to put together basil chicken but Raul builds on the idea. And builds on it. Suddenly the kitchen is a hive of activity. The chicken breasts are sliced and stuffed with basil leaves, mozzarella cheese and prosciutto. "The mark of a great chef is the ability to keep the whole thing from falling apart and for the contents to stay inside the chicken breast," pronounces Raul as the mini-processor whirs, turning toasted bread and buns into crumbs. The crumbs are cooled and stirred with grated Parmesan cheese and Greek oregano.

"I wanted to cheat and wrap the breasts in prosciutto," says Raul. "And I thought of twine or toothpicks but that feels like cheating. I hope this works." The breasts are dipped in an egg and milk mixture then rolled in the crumb mixture. This process is repeated repeatedly until Raul is sure that all is sealed tight. The results are placed on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and baked for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

While the chicken is cooking Raul creates a mango salad using Drew's Mom's recipe for bean salad. He slices an half an onion, half a red pepper and two large mangoes into strips, adds the vinaigrette solution and puts it in the fridge to marinate and cool. "I was thinking of a mango salsa," he says.

"Isn't a salsa usually spicy?" queries Drew. "Salad is fine by me especially when it is this delicious. And look! The chicken held together. Well there is one little extruding blob of cheese . . . But it is delicious."

"Yes. And all from scratch," says Raul proudly.

"Yes, you are a great chef," agrees Drew.