This Braised Chicken with Tomato is a totally made up dish.  Braising chicken may be my wife and my favorite preparation now.  The braising makes the chicken so moist, so tender.  I have used this technique a couple of times since and it is almost foolproof.  In this dish, I found some dried tomatoes I had bought and put away.  So I created a braising sauce by rehydrating the tomatoes with some dried chilis.  It sounded like a good combination.  It really was.  This was actually one of those dishes that got even better as we ate it.

Ingredients:

• 3 Chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
• 1 bag of dried tomatoes
• 3 -4 dried chilis
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• 2 tbsp cold water

Directions:

Take the dried tomatoes and chilis and put them in a bowl with warm water.  Let them sit in the liquid for a good couple of hours.

Remove the re-hydrated tomatoes and chilis and put the in your food processor.  Pulse until a paste is formed.  Use the liquid in the pulsing process until you get the paste consistency.  Reserve the remaining liquid. Put the breasts in a dish and cover with the paste and the reserved liquid overnight.

The next day, take out the chicken for 20 minutes before you start the braising.  In a Le Creuset dish add the chicken, paste and reserved liquid. The liquid should come up no more than half way on the chicken.

Turn the heat to high, bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer.  The chicken will need 25 – 30 minutes.  Remove the chicken and set it aside to rest. Meanwhile, combine the corn starch and cold water.  Mix thoroughly.  Drop into the pot with the liquid.  Turn the heat to high.  Stir in the cornstarch mixture until the sauce thickens.

 Serve the chicken topped with the sauce. Enjoy!