Chicken Noodle Soup

For Christmas I received two Ina Garten cookbooks: Barefoot Contessa Family Style and Barefoot Contessa at Home (yes, we've already opened some presents, long story). I'm very excited about trying out new recipes. So tonight I did. Our neighbors are sick and they have a new baby and it is the middle of finals, so I made Chicken Noodle Soup from the Family Style book. It really is delicious. Now, growing up I was never much of a fan for soups, but when your sick, nothing tastes good (so I don't know if my neighbors will enjoy it as much as I did), but this soup was great--Ina hasn't failed me yet! I was ill-prepared and did not have homemade chicken stock, so I bought canned broth, but it was still good without that homemade touch.

1 whole (2 split) chicken breast, bone in, skin on
olive oil
salt
pepper
2 qts chicken stock
1 c diced celery
1 c diced carrots
2 c wide egg noodles
1/4 c chopped fresh parsley (I used 4 t dried parsley b/c I didn't have fresh)

Preheat the oven to 350.

Place the chicken breast on a sheet pan and rub the skin with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast 35-40 min, until cooked through (I doubled the recipe so I was roasting 4 split breast and it took 45 min). When cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones, discard the skin, and shred the chicken meat.

Bring the stock to a boil in a stockpot, and add vegetables and noodles. Simmer, uncovered 7-10 minutes until noodles are cooked. Add the chicken and parsley and heat until warm.

**and Heather, if you read this before you eat yours, you'll realize that I forgot to add the parsley, so you may want to sprinkle some in before you eat it.