IT’S STILL NOT TOO late to send your recipes in for our annual Holiday Cooking recipe contest. Each winner in five categories — breads, appetizers, side dishes, entrees and desserts — will win a grocery gift certificate for $100. And the odds are pretty good in the appetizer and bread categories. Just one entry per category, please.

Send your favorite, most original recipes to me at abraly@timesfreepress.com or to my attention at Chattanooga Times Free Press, 400 E. 11th St., Chattanooga, TN 37403.

RESERVATIONS ARE STILL being accepted for Chattanooga Symphony & Opera’s “Evening in Paris” dinner to be held Saturday at 212 Market. Guy Reuge, owner of Mirabelle Restaurant in New York, will be the guest chef for an evening of fine food and French wines.

Mr. Reuge, born in Normandy, France, began his career at age 14 and served several apprenticeships before coming to America. Once in the States, he served as chef at restaurants such as La Tullpe and Le Cygne before opening Mirabelle. He has been awarded the Maltre Cuisiniere de France, the Chevalier du Merite Aricole and the Toque d’Argent. Mr. Reuge is also on the board of directors of the New York Institute of Technology’s School of Culinary Arts.

The menu features leek and ginger tartlets; salmon and chilled cauliflower soup with caviar during cocktail hour. Dinner will be a five-course affair with an entree of porcini-crusted loin of lamb, potato savonetee, baby spinach and roasted plums. Appropriate wines will be paired with each course.

Dinner begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $200 per person, $100 of which is tax-deductible. For reservations, call 267-8583, Ext. 113, or log onto www.chattanoogasymphony.org.

A FOLLOW-UP TO a recent column on Lodge’s new line of cast-iron cookware: If you’re a fan of Lodge cast-iron enamel cookware and love the different colors, you’ll be interested to know they’ve added green to the color wheel, which also includes blue and red.

I WAS SORRY TO see a “for lease” sign in front of Los Dorados on Dayton Boulevard. The restaurant underwent a major transformation before opening back in the spring, and I thought the decor looked really good. But it was the food that impressed me. And the prices. And here’s another: Clumpies on Highway 153 near Target closed, too. Too bad to see them go.

FOR THOSE OF YOU anticipating the opening of the new Hixson Publix, your wait is almost over. According to Brenda Reid, Publix media and community relations manager, the doors will open Oct. 8, two short weeks from today. If opening day is anything like it was when Publix opened on East Brainerd Road, I would avoid the intersection of Hixson Pike and Cassandra Smith Road at all costs. That is, unless you plan to shop at Publix, which I fully intend to do so I can stock up on Boathouse Farms salad dressing. Funny, Bi-Lo carries Boathouse Farms produce, but when I asked them to get the dressings, they said they’d “look into it.” So far, nothing. And that was almost a year ago. So Publix, here I come.

OFF THE BOOKSHELF: I love casseroles. There’s something quite comforting about a warm and simple mixture of meats and vegetables. Clifford A. Wright takes them to a new level in his new book, “Bake Until Bubbly: The Ultimate Casserole Cookbook” (Wiley Paperback, $22.95, 454 pages). Every page has a different take on tradition, with lots of seafood casseroles, chicken, turkey, beef, vegetable and even desserts. But one of my favorites is Chicken Cordon Bleu. I’ve made the original dish before and found it rather difficult to pound the chicken, stuff it and tie it up so that the cheese and ham stayed put inside. Making it into casserole form is so much simpler.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

1 large egg

11/2 cups whole milk, divided

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

11/2 cups dry bread crumbs

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup chicken broth

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup clarified butter (see note)

1/2 pound Swiss cheese, cubed small

1/2 pound cooked ham, cubed small

In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the egg and 1/2 cup of the milk. Dunk the chunks of chicken in the egg-milk mixture, then drain through a strainer. Place the bread crumbs in another bowl, add the chicken pieces and toss well so all pieces are covered with bread crumbs. Remove the chicken pieces, tapping them to knock off excess crumbs; set aside on a large platter or tray and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the white sauce. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the flour and stir to make a smooth roux. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until it turns pale golden, about 2 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat, then slowly whisk in the chicken broth and the remaining 1 cup milk until blended and smooth. Return the saucepan to the burner and continue to simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until dense, 10-12 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside, keeping the sauce warm. Heat the oven to 350 F.

In a large skillet, heat the clarified butter until very hot over medium-high heat, then cook the chicken pieces in 2 or 3 batches, without overcrowding them, until golden brown, about 2 minutes for each batch. Transfer the chicken pieces to a 13- by 9- by 2-inch baking casserole.

Scatter the Swiss cheese and ham cubes in the casserole on top of the chicken pieces. Spoon the reserved white sauce over the contents of the casserole. Season with a little salt and pepper. Bake until bubbly, about 30 minutes. Serve hot.

To clarify butter: Place butter in a small saucepan and melt over low heat. The milk solids will settle to the bottom, and some may float on top. Remove the foam on top with a spoon, then slowly and carefully pour off the clarified butter into a bowl, leaving the milk solids at the bottom of the saucepan. Alternately, you can pass the butter through a cheesecloth-lined strainer to strain out the milk solids.

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