Want a pizza-making class for you and your five best friends?
Make an offer to Berit Ollestad, Morristown’s newly crowned Pizza Princess.
Her recipe beat three others on Wednesday to win the first Create Your Ultimate Pie Contest at Millie’s Old World Meatballs & Pizza.
You can try her coal-fired “Many’s Pie”– made from fresh tomatoes, caramelized onions, pepperoni, roasted peppers, basil, fresh spinach and homemade mozzarella–at Millie’s for the next two weeks.
Berit named her creation for a critically ill little boy from the Morris School District. She aims to sell her prize — a pizza class for six at Millie’s — to help the boy’s single mom, who she said is struggling to manage the crisis while holding onto a job and raising another son.
“I’d like to auction it off to the highest bidder and donate all the proceeds to the family. If anyone is interested in hosting a pizza-making party for six at Millie’s, please contact the editor of this publication to submit your bid,” said Berit, a mother of two who writes for MorristownGreen.com when she is not creating award-winning pizza recipes or saving the world.
She has organized relief efforts for victims of tornadoes and hurricanes, collected Christmas toys for needy kids and delivered gifts to children in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, among other humanitarian causes.
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Berit’s recipe edged runner-up Jessica Danto, a Fair Lawn blogger for SmallChickBigDeals.com, by one point in voting by a panel of guest tasters.
Entries were graded on flavor, presentation and creativity.
“They all were excellent. It was very close. It was hard to judge,” said Morristown Mayor Tim Dougherty, a panelist with Eric Levin, senior editor for New Jersey Monthly and Teresa Politano of Inside Jersey magazine.
Honorable mentions went to contestants Maureen Denman and Jeff Giardina, who made the Final Four from a field of 50 entries. Entrants compiled recipes from dozens of ingredients listed by Millie’s. Pizza Chef Peter Martinez baked 20 of the most interesting submissions to arrive at his top four.
Wednesday’s competition–celebrating National Pizza Month–was the first time any of the finalists actually tasted their recipes.
“I don’t like a complicated pizza. A good crust is essential as well as flavorful sauce and high-quality pepperoni,” said Berit, whose first job as a teenager was at a pizza chain.
The Mayor commended Millie’s for spicing up a Wednesday night on South Street.
Look for the contest to return next fall, said Peter Martinez of Millie’s. Whether Many’s Pie stays on the menu for more than a couple of weeks is up to customers.
“If it’s a good seller, we’ll keep it longer,” Peter said. “If it’s a really good seller, we’ll keep it permanently.”
