My junior high school cafeteria was probably no better or worse than the average cafeteria. But there were two things they made that were exceptional: pizza, and pizza soup. The pizza was thick and cheesy, and I never heard anyone say a bad word about it.

The pizza soup, on the other hand, was great mostly for the idea of it. I've never seen it on the menu anywhere else, and had to create my own recipe for it. The version below is probably far better than what they served, but I still get nostalgic for times when they served it.

Ingredients

The soup

Toppings

Directions

Dice the onion very fine and mince the garlic. Sauté them over medium heat in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and a teaspoon of salt.



Once the onion is clear and softened, add the tomatoes and oregano.



Add salt and pepper and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and insert an immersion blender. Work in circles until you've taken the soup from chunky ...



to thick ...




to smooth.



Add a cup or two of water, to thin it out from "pizza sauce" thickness to "soup" thickness. Just how thin this should be is a matter of preference. I like thick.

Set up an assembly area with the soup, croutons and cheese around the bowl.



A cup or two of soup, a handful of croutons, and a handful of cheese, and you're ready to serve.



Next time I'm going to put the soup in a nice tureen and bring it to the table so the girls can assemble their own. They love feeling like they helped make their own dinner.