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Emily Palombo, 18, and Sara Oros, 17, both seniors at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart High School in Coraopolis, get wedding soup in the school's cafeteria.
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A soup(er) school lunch: A Catholic high school cafeteria serves heavenly soup

Andrew Rush/Post-Gazette

A soup(er) school lunch: A Catholic high school cafeteria serves heavenly soup

Kids have been bad-mouthing school lunches for at least as long as there have been school cafeterias. And it’s tough for parents to disagree when their child’s tales of culinary woe include mystery-meat tacos and mushy, unrecognizable vegetables. 

But it’s not all bad eats in the lunch room.

One a la carte lunch item has grown so popular with students at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart High School in Coraopolis that their parents are ordering it for takeout. And it soon will be offered to alumni and other community members as a fundraiser for the school’s OLSH Fund for student programs and activities.

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When Doug Brannock was hired as executive chef and food-service director in August, he noticed that something he’s pretty good at making wasn’t on the menu: good old-fashioned soup. So Mr. Brannock decided to add it to the high school’s cafeteria offerings once a week.

To place an order
OLSH’s next Soup Take Out Day will be on Feb. 18, when a quart of broccoli cheese soup will be sold for $5. Pickup is between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. in the main office, 1504 Woodcrest Ave., Coraopolis. Orders must be received by Feb. 12 using a form found on olsh.org (click on OLSH Life/For Parents). Phone orders also will be accepted at 412- 264-5140.

Soup, he knew, would be a clever way to sneak some veggies into the teenagers’ diets. It also was a delicious way to use up leftovers from the previous day’s meal, saving the school money. What he didn’t anticipate was that that first big pot of homemade chicken noodle would be a runaway hit.

“We figured it might be popular with the staff, but that if the kids didn’t like it, well, we wouldn’t keep doing it,” says Mr. Brannock of Saxonburg, who also prepares meals for the Sisters of the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart convent next door. “But it caught on.” 

So much so, that Mr. Brannock’s soups quickly went from once-a-week to a daily lunch item. Depending on the variety and how cold it is outside (sales are brisker in winter), many of his 3-gallon batches sell out by the end of the school’s third 25-minute lunch period; leftovers go to the sisters. Cost is 50 cents a cup, or $1 a bowl.

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Principal Tim Plocinik, who admits to hating soup as a child, is a devotee, as is senior Sara Oros. On a recent Monday, the 17-year-old could barely contain her soup glee as she dished up a big bowl of Italian wedding soup from a large steel pot at the end of the cafeteria steam table. She went heavy on the pasta and meatballs, light on the broth.  

She typically only buys the soup when she packs her lunch, but “I could eat it every day. It’s so delicious,” she said.   

It didn’t take long for Mr. Brannock to capitalize on his success. While working for The Sisters of St. Francis in Whitehall in 2010, he had organized a few Soup Take Out Day fundraisers for the sisters' ministries, and he thought OLSH parents would want to put in a few orders for takeout, too.

One email blast in mid-October and Mr. Brannock’s homemade soup “took on a life of its own,” said Mr. Plocinik, with parents ordering 50 quarts of pumpkin bisque at the first sale in November, raising $235. “We were all surprised how well it took off but of course very pleased, too.”

A second event in December sold 100 quarts for a $425 profit, and Mr. Plocinik expects that amount to double once again when the school extends the next takeout day to the community at large in mid-February. 

Seeing he’s tasked with cooking for kids, you’d think Mr. Brannock’s creations — which get a stamp of approval from a dietitian at West Virginia-based Aladdin Food Service Management that subcontracts with the school — would skew traditional. While his chicken noodle and Italian wedding soups are the biggest sellers, his rotating seasonal selections are anything but standard school-cafeteria fare. They include broccoli and cheddar, cream of potato with pierogi, and even dilled cauliflower.

“They’re really pretty accepting of things, and straight-up chicken soup just won’t do it anymore,” said Mr. Brannock, who learned to cook at Emilia’s Garden, his aunts’ Italian restaurant in Harmar. He has spent most of his cooking career in commercial kitchens after a stint in the Army. But only if the food meets certain standards.

Back when he was a kid, he said, the soup served at school came straight out of a can. As a result, “It was garbage.” Today’s students, he noted, expect so much more.

“They’re so much smarter than we were and very worldly,” he said.

Gretchen McKay: gmckay@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1419 or on Twitter @gtmckay.

 

OLSH TakeOut Wedding Soup

PG tested

2 tablespoons olive oil or butter

¼ pound onions, diced

¼ pound carrots, sliced or diced

1 stalk celery, diced

Salt and pepper, to taste

½ pound diced chicken

12 cups chicken broth

¼ pound 1-inch homemade meatballs

2 ounces acini de pepe (tiny pasta)

½ pound spinach (frozen is OK)

Heat oil or butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, celery and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until vegetables are translucent and fragrant, about 4 minutes. Add ½ pound diced chicken and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, cover and cook 10 minutes over medium heat or until soup comes to a boil.

Add meatballs and acini de pepe to the boiling soup and stir to make sure they are fully submerged. Cover and simmer for another 15 minutes over medium heat. Stir in spinach. Test a meatball and a piece of pasta to ensure that they are fully cooked. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve immediately.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

— Adapted from Doug Brannock, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart High School

First Published: January 19, 2016, 5:00 p.m.

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Emily Palombo, 18, and Sara Oros, 17, both seniors at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart High School in Coraopolis, get wedding soup in the school's cafeteria.  (Andrew Rush/Post-Gazette)
Doug Brannock, the chef at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart High School in Coraopolis, makes homemade soup that has turned out to be such a hit with students that he introduced a monthly takeout sale as a fundraiser for the school.  (Andrew Rush/Post-Gazette)
A bowl of Doug Brannock's homemade wedding soup at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart High School in Coraopolis.  (Andrew Rush/Post-Gazette)
Andrew Rush/Post-Gazette
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