Cooking with Chef Jo: Garbage Pizza Soup

When I was pregnant with my fourth daughter, I craved pizza. When I was not craving pizza, I was craving oysters, but that's another story. Not just any pizza would do. I wanted what my next older adopted sister called a garbage pizza. She was pregnant with her first child also. Whenever my husband worked an overnight shift, Nene would stay the night and we'd pig out on a large pizza between us on my queen sized bed.

The Garbage Pizza is a combination pizza of the Pizza Hut's Meat Lovers pizza and every single other topping the restaurant carried. To call it a loaded pizza was an understatement. Even with a medium thick crust, it defied being picked up to eat. We found the best way to eat it was to let the pizza cool 15 minutes so the crust would stiffen up some. Of course, it woouldn't be a true pregnancy craving without some additions. Namely Parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes, and a good douse of hot sauce. We'd order a salad each, just to say it was healthy meal.

Fast forward a dozen years or so, I was working at a restaurant that had a soup and salad bar. I soon got tired of the tried and true soup recipes, and was itching to true something new. My memories of our pregnancy craving came to mind. So I created a recipe for a Garbage Pizza soup. Now that you know the story, it's on to the recipe. Be aware I'm canning this recipe to put in the food storage as well as serving it for dinner.

Jo's Garbage Pizza Soup
 21-1 cup servings

What you'll need

1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 lb Italian sausage
4 slices cooked ham
1-4.2 oz can anchovies
1/2 lb mini pepperoni
1/4 lb bulk sausage
2 large onions,chopped
2 large green bell peppers, chopped
1 lb white button mushrooms, wiped and sliced
10 black olives, sliced, about 1/4 cup
                                                                                    10 green olives, sliced, about 1/4 cup
                                                                                    1/2 lb spinach leaves, coarse
                                                                                     chopped, and blanched and dried
                                                                                    1/2 cup sweet Greek pepperonchini, sliced
                                                                                    5 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced*
                                                                                    2 qts of diced tomatoes or 2-38 oz cans
                                                                                    3 qts of tomatoes sauce, or 3 cans of Hunt's
                                                                                     roasted onion and garlic spaghetti sauce*
                                                                                    2 qts beef broth
                                                                                    1 TBS oregano, fresh or 1/2 TBS dried*
                                                                                    1 TBS basil, fresh or 1/2 TBS dried*
                                                                                    1/2 TBS ground rosemary, fresh or 2tsp
                                                                                     dried*
                                                                                    1/2 TBS marjoram, fresh or 2 tsp dried*
                                                                                    1TBS red pepper flakes
                                                                                    3 Bay leaves
                                                                                    Salt and pepper to taste

Grated Mozzarella, Parmesan and Romano cheeses, and crisp, crumbled bacon (1 slice of bacon per serving) for service.

*Note- When using Hunt's spaghetti sauce reduce the starred items by half because the sauce is already seasoned
 with these.

Putting it all together

• Brown the ground beef, Italian sausage, pepperoni and sausage in a large stock pot. 
• Remove the meat from the pan and drain half the grease from the pan.
• Add onions, peppers, bay leaves, and mushrooms to the pot.
• Stir in and smash anchovies and cook until the onions begin to sweat.
• Add diced tomatoes with juice, herbs, olives, and garlic to the pot. Stir well
• Return the meat to the pot plus the ham with the vegetables.
• Bring mixture to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Add water if needed.
• Add tomato sauce/spaghetti sauce and beef broth to another pot and bring to a boil.
• Pressure can using the hot pack method. Hot jars, hot lids, hot soup.
• Ladle meat filling into the jars filling them halfway.
• Fill the remaining space by ladling tomato mixture.
• Debubble, leave 1" head space, wipe rims, lid, ring each jar, and put in your canner.
  
• Pressure can 65 minutes for pints and 90 minutes for quarts per your altitude.
• Be sure and leave enough in your pot for dinner. Combine sauce and broth mixture with the meat mixture.
• Continue cooking at a low simmer for 2 hours.

For service heat soup and sprinkle a combination of cheeses and bacon on top of each bowl. The addition of hot sauce or sirrarcha is entirely optional. (grinning) Serve with a crusty Italian loaf of bread and a salad.

Enjoy!

Y'all have a blessed day!

Chef Jo