Casual Chicken Cordon Bleu

4 chicken cutlets or thin-sliced chicken breasts
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
12 baby spinach leaves (about 1/2 cup)
4 thin slices deli ham (about 2 ounces)
1 cup shredded Gruyere or Jarlsberg cheese

Pat chicken dry dry with paper towels; season with salt and pepper.
Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat.
Add chicken to pan; increase heat to medium-high and cook 3 minutes,
until golden.
Flip chicken, top each cutlet with about 3 spinach leaves, 1 slice ham
(folding it to fit), and 1/4 cup cheese.
Cover pan and cook about 3 minutes longer, until chicken is cooked through
and cheese is melted.

Forget the rolling and breading usually found in Cordon Bleu recipes.
Enjoy the savory chicken, ham-and-cheese-flavor combo in this
super-simple weeknight dinner.

I let company think this is a lot of work. You can fool them, too.

Tip: Smaller, more delicate baby spinach leaves work best in this recipe.
If unavailable, use the regular large-leaf variety, first stripping off
and discarding the thick stems.

This comes from Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove Cookbook, p 102.

We tried this Nov 2009.  It needs a sauce. Judy thinks Jack cheese
might work better.