One-Pot Roasted Chicken with Potatoes and Sun-dried Tomato Cream

I saw this recipe at Damn Delicious and recognized right away that it sounded like "our flavors." After a few tweaks based on ingredients lying around my kitchen (and on my unwillingness to measure ingredients), this simple dish wowed us and entered the ranks of household staples... 

The changes started I realized I only had 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs thawed, rather than the 8 the recipe called for.  My first thought was to just make a half-batch, but then I saw a bag of Yukon Gold potatoes and took things a different direction...

 The chicken thighs went in for a quick brown in butter... 

I decided to add an onion to the mix here for a little depth.   (I also doubled quantities on all the dried herbs, because that's how I roll...)

 After the onions got some color, I added the garlic to cook for a few minutes before adding the dried herbs.

Next I added "1/3 cup" of julienned sun-dried tomatoes.  This is what a third of a cup looks like when it's an ingredient I really like... 

Next up, the potatoes.  I've been meaning to do a potato post for a while, because it turns out they are an ingredient that I fell in love with once I realized how amazingly they can be cooked sous vide.  You vacuum-seal your seasoned potatoes with a little butter/duck fat in the bag, then cook in a water bath at 185°F.  If you want to use them for mashed/smashed potatoes, go ahead and leave them in for a couple hours.  If you want to use them in a dish where they are just perfectly tender (like potato salad, par-cooked potatoes to roast, or to be added to a dish like this), an hour or less works great.

It's hard to pin-point my previous least-favorite thing about cooking potatoes.  Is it waiting for the stupid water to boil? Trying to cook them just the right amount without taking it too far?  Cleaning out that stupid starch-crusted pot after?  Whatever it is, it's no longer ever an issue thanks to sous vide cooking... When I added the potatoes to the mix (I think it was about 2 pounds), I realized that I yet again was an idiot and there was no way I was going to be able to fit everything back in there to go in the oven...  Oops.

I transferred everything (plus the grated parm) over to my Dutch oven and used about a half cup of white wine to deglaze my cast iron skillet, so I could be sure to get all the yumminess out of the pan... 

The chicken stock and cream were added and brought to a simmer...

 ... then that went into the Dutch oven as well.

 The chicken thighs go on top, and then it's into a 400°F for about 25-30 minutes.

 

That's all there is to it.  The sauce was so fantastic that we sat around sopping it up with bread while we waited for the chicken to rest before dinner.   I look forward to making this again for friends and family.   

So. Good.  (And it totally is "one pot" so long as you're smart enough to recognize the capacity of your pans in advance...  heh.)