So, another summer season is over and it’s back to school for the children after a fairly rainy few weeks. Rather than craving summer salads, we’ve been seeking out cold weather food – scrambled eggs for breakfast, soups for lunch and pasta bakes for dinner. The children have also been requesting their favourites; pizza, pasta with tomato sauce or Bolognese, repeat. And so I’ve been trying to get creative with the ways we rotate around these themes. Enter my Rainy Day Pizza Pasta Soup. It is indeed a strange hybrid, “It’s a bit odd, but it tastes nice, mummy” came one piece of feedback. However, I actually really love this recipe as it’s a great way to use up odds and ends or leftovers, especially on days when I can’t face a supermarket adventure with three children.
The recipe below assumes that you have either some tomato sauce or Bolognese sauce leftover. If you haven’t, then you could make a batch following my Slow Cooker Bolognese Recipe. You could also use a jar of tomato sauce – a good quality one and add the same amount of stock to achieve a soup consistency. On other occasions, I’ve thrown in chopped, fried pepperoni, mushrooms or shredded chicken. A good sprinkle of mozzarella is a must and a big heap of grated Parmesan cheese for the top. Fresh basil or oregano is lovely, too. Get creative!
Rainy Day Pizza Pasta Soup
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 4
A great way to use up leftover tomato or Bolognese sauce. Simply add a handfull of pasta and some of your favourite 'toppings' such as chopped, fried pepperoni, mushrooms, or shredded chicken. Add grated mozzarella and a good handful of Parmesan cheese on the top.
Ingredients
- 500g/two cups Bolognese or good quality tomato sauce (leftovers are ideal)
- 250ml/one cup vegetable or chicken stock
- 1 bay leaf
- sea salt
- black pepper
- 280g/2 cups cooked pasta
- 100g mozzarella, torn or grated
- 100g fresh Parmesan cheese
- 1 small bunch fresh basil, leaves and stalks separated
- (optional - fried pepperoni, mushrooms or shredded chicken)
Instructions
- Pour the Bolognese or tomato sauce into a large pan. On a medium heat, bring to the boil. Add in the stock and stir well. Add in the bay leaf. Stir in half a teaspoon each of sea salt and black pepper.
- When hot, add in the cooked pasta and stir. Remove the bay leaf Add the optional extras, such as pepperoni, if using. Divide the soup between four bowls.
- Add the torn mozzarella, and top with grated Parmesan cheese and a few basil leaves per bowl.
- Serve straight away
Cuisine Italian-ish
More Pizza Loveliness
If you’re looking for other back to school/autumnal recipes, take a look at these pizza-inspired creations:
- We love Jac’s Easy Pizza Dip with Cream Cheese over on Tinned Tomatoes
- Time for some baking? Try Sarah’s Pizza Muffins with Black Olives over on Maison Cupcake
- Jeanne at Cook Sister shares her recipe for Margherita Pizza Grilled Cheese Sandwiches – next on our pizza hit list!
- I Spy some Pizza Nachos over on Franglaise Kitchen by Nazima
- Or, how about Margherita Pizza Hummus? Another very tasty dip and pizza-inspired creation by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours
- Plus, Katie has rounded up seven of her back to school favourites, here.
I hope you enjoy some of these pizza-inspired rainy day recipes!
As always, let me know if you make this by tagging me on Instagram or Twitter as @RenBehan.
Or, add your recipes and ideas to our Pizza Love Pinterest board (338K followers)
Eb Gargano says
This soup sounds fab! Love the idea of putting the flavours of pizza in a soup, plus a great way to use up leftovers!
Margot @ Coffee & Vanilla says
What a great idea Ren, I’m loving this! I’m going to share link to this recipe in my Friday Newsletter 🙂
Nazima Pathan says
what a lovely soup Ren. No doubt many rainy days ahead that will be just right to prepare this soup. Bookmarking.
Life Loving says
Love this! It’s pizza, pasta and a spag bol all in one. I never thought to use up leftover bolognaise in this way.
Will be trying this when winter hits and I need soup for lunch!
Sally @ Life Loving
Jacqueline Meldrum says
That looks divine Ren. I just want to dive in. I think Cooper would love it too. I’ll give it a try and let you know. Thanks for linking to me.
Nazima Pathan says
Perfect soup for a cold and rainy September. I can imagine this with some crusty baguette to add extra carb comfort (in addition to the pasta of course!)
denise@magnoliaverandah says
Nice soup. My Italian daughter in law makes something similar, she adds baked beans and its called.. you guessed it Baked Bean Soup.
Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours says
Just beautiful Ren, and perfect for this autumn weather that has suddenly appeared
Sally - My Custard Pie says
We always get an honest appraisal from our children don’t we. Veggie teen would love this.
Katie Bryson says
This looks like a bowl of autumnal goodness that my family would adore… great idea for making leftovers go a bit further Ren. Thanks for linking to my after-school supper feature 🙂
Jan @GlugofOil says
What a great idea Ren – I could eat that right now. Looks nice and filling too.