Thursday, August 25, 2005

Cookies and Pizza...

The recipe for dinner tonight I have had at the top of my to-try pile for awhile, but kept passing it by as I couldn't find an ingredient that I thought would be necessary. Turkish Turkey Pizza has a spicy yogurt base instead of a pizza sauce and is topped with a mix of fire roasted diced tomatoes and sauteed ground turkey breast. Cumin and allspice flavor the meat and tomato mixture with another interesting ingredient called Pomegranate Molasses. The recipe only called for 1 1/2 tsp but I used a heaping tablespoon as I wanted a bit more of the flavor to come through. I'm glad I made the change! The mixture is then divided between 4 whole wheat pitas and toasted in a very hot oven. We really enjoyed this and would make it again!


Cookies... so many different types that can be made. These are Vanilla Oat Cookies(BBCL). They are a lace type cookie being very thin and having a crisp outer edge while the center is still chewy. I used vanilla paste instead of vanilla extract as I find the flavor packs a bit more of a punch. With a short time to firm up the dough in the refrigerator the cookies come together pretty fast and are nice light snack.

8 comments:

  1. I'm going to look into vanilla paste...I've never seen it at our regular grocery store.

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  2. The turkey pizza certainly sounds interesting and exotic and I LOVE the cookie photo.

    Vanilla paste - I'll have to check that out. I wonder where I might find it...nothing like a good hunt for something new.

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  3. Joe, the pizzas look divine. Getting fancy with your picture taking, eh? ;)

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  4. I love pomegranate molasses. I made the tangiest barbecued ribs ever with it. I'm always looking for more ways to sneak it in recipes.

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  5. We love that Turkish Pizza! So simple, but so good.

    I've always wondered - how does one sub vanilla paste for extract?

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  6. thanks for trying those, joe.

    jen it is a one to one substitution. just use the same amount of paste as the amount of extract is called for in the recipe.

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  7. Joe, i am Turkish, so it was of special interest to me to see your Pizza recipe. i must say that it is not an authentic dish, but it certainly sounds like a combination well-suited to Turkish taste. I am not sure about turkey, though. You see, surprisingly enough, Turks do not eat a lot of turkey. I would imagine lamb would be a more authentic choice :)

    As for pomegrenate juice, I use that a lot as the sour component in salad dressings. Give it a try, you may like it.

    As always, everything looks great and your pictures are lovely.

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  8. I find the paste at trader joes or penzeys. Hope that helps some!

    Thanks for the comments!

    Zinnur - thanks! I thought it probably wasent too authentic but its somewhat close! I'll try that with the juice!

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