Lemon Chicken Potato Green Bean Casserole

As we approach our impending move to Asia, we've imposed a rule in our little Loudermilk household: NO MORE BUYING TEA. It seems simple. It should be simple. But I'm afraid we actually have a little problem with tea! We have our favorites — white persimmon, tension tamer, egyption licorice, white ginger peach. As I wrote that list I felt like I could continue forever, perhaps negating the meaning of the term "favorites" for this application.

Apart from our favorites, we have those we save for guests {mainly the zingers, Earl Grey, or plain green tea). We also have those we like on occasion — pu-erh, a few fruity blends, or mate for Derek. All this to illustrate: we have a lot of tea. And, we like a lot of tea! We have two shelves of a double-doored cabinet taken up completely by tea. When we run out of a favorite, we buy another box. We're never without the complete arsenal of tea choices.

Along with selling the guest-bedroom set, figuring out passports, visas, paychecks, etc. we've had also plan ahead for drinking all of our tea. It seems silly to put it all into storage, we're certainly not going to throw it away or take it with us, and while we could give it to a friend it seemed prudent to just carefully work our way through the stash. So, we've been resisting the urge to re-stock. I think we've been out of tension tamer and egyptian licorice for WEEKS now! Slowly, and surely, we're seeing bare cabinet space. Yes, we still have enough tea to make hundreds upon hundreds of cups of tea. Luckily my sick week last week put a good dent in it, as does my normal daily intake.

Next on the list, I should say concurrently on the list with the tea, is everything else in the pantry. We have lentils, beans, various grains I don't remember acquiring, and SO MANY SPICES to use. Of course, I have a harder time justifying letting a spice-tin sit empty. One of my Bozeman friends is going to be exceedingly happy (hopefully) with my gift of excessive spices next month. I have a feeling it will be a difficult parting.

This dish, with the longest, most-boring title ever known, was somewhat of a "clean out the ___" dish. I'd had it in my head to make a chicken dish with lemon and potato, but then thought I should use up some milk, cheese, and green beans. All of which we had in abundance, and I'm sure will re-appear before we leave {I'm great and justifying the purchase of vegetables and cheese, in particular}.

I'll be honest with you: the term "casserole" freaks me out. It makes me think of some mushy, over-salted, likely cream-of-mushroom based dish I'd really rather not eat. Instead of going that route, I went for the homemade béchamel as a base here, adding onion, garlic, thyme, and oregano as flavor. You could switch those herbs up anyway you'd like! Rosemary would be fantastic, I'm sure. Also, with the cheeses! I used Gruyere and cheddar, as I had it on hand, but I imagine fontina or a white cheddar working splendidly.

Despite the long ingredient list, this dish is incredibly simple to throw together. With twenty minutes of prep, you can throw it into the oven (or into the fridge to cook later!), and have a tasty, hearty, citrusy dinner in no time. I was impressed at how well the lemon infused into the chicken — I was skeptical that the small amount on top would do anything for the flavor, but it was present in a very bright, fresh way.

Lemon Chicken Potato Green Bean Casserole

• Author: adapted from Gimme Some Oven
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 60 mins
• Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
• Yield: 8 1x

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 4 Tbsp butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small white onion, diced
• 4 Tbsp flour*
• 2 cups milk (any fat %), warmed to not quite boiling
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1 cup grated Gruyere
• salt and freshly-ground black pepper
• 1.5 lbs. potatoes (I used Russet) very thinly sliced
• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
• 1 ½ cups fresh green beans, cut to 1" segments
• 1 lemon, halved and thinly sliced

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F.
2. In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the garlic and onion, and cook until softened — 3-5 minutes.
3. Whisking constantly, add the flour. Continue to whisk and cook the roux for 3 minutes before adding the hot milk, thyme, and oregano. Whisk and cook until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Cook for another two minutes, then add the cheese, whisk until fully melted, and remove from heat. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, chicken cubes, green beans, and cheese sauce. Mix well to fully coat everything in the sauce, then pour into a large casserole pan (I used a 9x13 baking dish, but could have gone bigger!).
5. Tuck the lemon sliced in along the top, cover with foil, and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until your potatoes are tender. Remove the foil, and broil until the top of the casserole is golden.
6. Remove from the oven, and serve warm.

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Notes

If you are making this gluten-free, be sure to use a gluten-free thickener in place of the flour. I've found Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose GF Flour to work perfectly as a thickener when making a roux.