Steelers game day grub: Pizza soup

The Steelers host the Colts for Sunday night football and to satisfy your tailgate or home-gate hunger we’re making pizza soup.

I was at the Colts game last year when Ben Roethlisberger threw for 522 yards and six touchdowns. It was an amazing performance and an awesome thing to witness first-hand. Hopefully Roethlisberger can be cleared from his concussion suffered in last week’s 39-30 loss to Seattle in time to do the same kind of damage to the Colts on Sunday Night Football.

Even though Western Pennsylvania has been spared from significant snowfall so far this season it’s still the time of year to want something tasty and warming. I always eat a lot of pizza this time of year not because I don’t like to cook but because there’s so much cooking going on for one thing or another that pizza comes into play when you’re all out of energy to make anything else.

Pizza also comes into play when family comes to town or you just want to go to your favorite pizza spot. The best pizza in all of the Pittsburgh area, in my opinion, comes from Vincent’s Pizza Park on Ardmore Blvd. There’s nothing in the world quite like a Vinnie Pie.

I’ve been going to Vincent’s and getting Vincent’s pizza since I was a kid and it’s the best pizza ever and you’ll never convince me otherwise. I remember going there years ago with my Dad and my Grandma and having pizza soup along with the Vinnie Pie. It was amazing and I had to recreate it.

Everything you love about a pizza in a warm bowl of soup. You start with a hot stock pot and a few tablespoons of olive oil. Throw some diced shallots and garlic in there with salt and pepper and sauté until soft. Then throw a pound of ground Italian sausage (sweet or hot, your preference) and brown.

When the sausage is all browned you’ll add a large container of chicken stock. Hopefully you bought too many for Thanksgiving and you have some leftover and you’ve been wondering what the crap you’re going to do with it. Next you’ll add two regular cans of tomato sauce and a small can of tomato paste.

Pizza Soup

After you add the cans of tomato sauce you’ll want to sweeten it up a bit and bring out the tomatoeyness by adding a pinch of sugar or honey. If you’ve added sweet sausage instead of hot sausage don’t overdo it with the sugar or you’ll have tomato candy on your hands and no one wants that.

Add some small noodles like tiny shells or pasta and let it all simmer until the pasta is cooked. Before you’re ready to serve you throw in some pepperoni, some shredded mozzarella, some fresh chopped basil and parsley and any other pizza toppings you like.

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If you’re tailgating you just throw the whole thing in a slow cooker and make a toppings bar for your buddies to create their favorite individual pizza soup. Serve with garlic bread or garlic croutons to be like your pizza “crust”. Boom. Pizza soup. You’re welcome.

Enjoy the game and the grub!