Recipes: The Cavit Gourmet Pizza Classic

May 31, 2006 — -- "Good Morning America's" Diane Sawyer, Robin Roberts and Charles Gibson helped select the winner of the first Cavit Gourmet Pizza Classic, sponsored by the Cavit Wine Co. in conjunction with Cooking Light Magazine.

More than 10,000 fans entered the contest and submitted their gourmet pizza recipes to vie for a chance to win the title "America's Best Gourmet Pizza" and an all-expense paid trip for two to Italy.

Chef Billy Strynkowski, a Cooking Light contributor, offered his critique of the pizzas. Wines to accompany them were selected by Laura DePasquale, the national director of the Palm Bay Fine Wine Team and one of 72 Americans to earn the official "master sommelier" title.

The finalists were:

• Dara and Russ Arouh of Atlanta, who invented the Rustic Grilled Vegetable Pizza.
• Susan Miller of South Weymouth, Mass., who created the Shrimp Scampi Pizza.
• Lindsay Cuomo of New York, who crafted the Broccoli Rabe and Marinated Tomato Pizza.

The Arouhs said their recipe combined Dara's love of inventing and Russ' love of grilling. Miller said she cooked with her kids and hoped to use the trip to visit her husband, who is in the National Guard, if she won the contest. Cuomo is a speech-language pathologist at East River Child Development Center, and also provides speech and language services at a private clinic.

After much hemming and hawing, Strynkowski was a tiebreaker when he selected Cuomo's pizza as his favorite.

THE PIZZAS

Slice and serve with a glass of your favorite Cavit Riesling or Cavit Merlot.