Buttermilk-Dill Chicken Pot Roast

I like twice-roasted taters. It's not something I get very often, because everybody in our house likes those spuds plenty when they're on the table the first time, so there aren't usually enough leftovers to send them to the oven for a second time.

But we bought some monster tubers last month so I'd be able to make tasty fries, and, with the next meal, in the long habit we have of cooking one potato per person (even though each spud was clearly enough to serve two very hungry people), I ended up with a full two servings of buttermilk-dill-roasted wedges (with sweet pepper slices) to spare.

Enter: the chicken.

And other stuff.

The chicken was in the form of pair of breasts languishing in the freezer until last night. I brought it out, thawed it, and gave it a honey-buttermilk brining.

From there, it was a matter of filling in the gaps and tossing it all into the oven to roast for an hour, keeping my fingers crossed.

So, here are the basic ingredients, in their order of play (not as if you were building on leftovers):

The chicken:
2 medium chicken breasts, in basic brine with 2 Tablespoons powdered buttermilk and a teaspoon of dill weed added. Allow to stand in refrigerator while assembling potatoes, etc.

Roasted potatoes:
1 very large potato, cleaned but not peeled, then cut in half crosswise and sliced into wedges about 1 cm at their thickest (should be about 3 cups)
1/2 sweet bell pepper, sliced into strips
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon canola or other mild-flavored cooking oil
1 Tablespoon dill weed
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1 tsp kosher salt

Preheat oven to 400º F.
In a quart (or larger) zipper bag, combine all ingredients and shake vigorously.
Spread potatoes out, skin sides down, on a well-greased, foil-lined baking pan, pouring the liquids evenly over all the potato wedges.
Roast until tops turn golden brown (about 35-40 minutes).

Reduce oven temperature to 325º F.

The rest of it:
8 ounces cremini (baby bella) mushrooms, sliced thickly
1 Tablespoon butter
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 Tablespoons corn starch
4 ounces neufchatel (light cream cheese)
1 cup green beans, fresh, or frozen, thawed
1 small onion, cut into wedges
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large oven-safe frying pan, melt the butter over high temperature, and stir-fry the mushrooms until they brown and begin to turn crisp at the edges. Remove from heat, add onion, green beans, and potatoes.

In a small saucepan, mix the starch and chicken stock. With heat at medium, allow the stock to come to a simmer and thicken. Add in neufchatel cheese and allow to melt and mix in completely. Pour over vegetables, stir well.

Place chicken on top of the vegetables, cover with foil, and place in oven at 325º for about 25-30 minutes, until chicken is fully cooked.

Allow dish to cool 5 minutes before eating.

Serve with salad.