Basically a Provencal type skillet dish. I wanted the taste of chicken soup with out being soupy. Something that would serve as an entree.
The goal here is to braise the chicken in a minimal amount of broth, so you need to pick a skillet that isn't much bigger than can fit the chicken you have and then fill with the veggies so that they are about the same height as the chicken. I used half a dozen boneless, skinless breasts in a 12" skillet and needed a 14.5 oz can of broth plus half that of water to bring it up to height.
First, I brined the chicken to make it juicier. Had not used that trick before* and I could let that sit while I did the other prep work. Fill a 13"x9" dish with 2 quarts water and 1/4 cup salt, stirring to dissolve. Put chicken in and cover. Put some place cool for 1/2 an hour or so. Chop up carrots, celery, and onions in roughly even proportions keeping in mind how much you will need to surround the chicken.
Start heating the skillet to medium high. Drain chicken and pat dry. Put a bit of oil in the hot skillet and brown the chicken in two batches. Set aside the chicken for a moment while you deglaze the pan with a bit of white wine and bring it up to heat.** Return the chicken to the skillet and surround with veggies. Sprinkle with sage, pepper, bay leaf, or whatever meets your fancy. Add broth and water, mostly the former, to cover. Simmer until the chicken is cooked. Pull the chicken again. Mix up some cornstarch and cool water together in a bowl and add to the skillet until thickened to taste. I cut the breasts in half to make them a bit easier to serve. Return the chicken to the skillet and that is it. Serve over noodles. Or change the name of the recipe and serve over rice.
* This worked ok. The chicken tasted slightly salty if I thought about it. Not over powering and no one else commented on it.
** Originally, I tried browning the veggies in between removing the chicken and deglazing, but there is really too much of them to really make that work and I decided that it wasn't worth it.
