Wednesday, June 25, 2008

One thing I never talked about on here was getting my order from Penzeys' Spices.

I found out about them through my parents. Back in January (I think it was) my dad started going to a new cardiologist (the one he had had retired). The new cardiologist has some of the same health issues as my dad does, and he suggested to my dad that going on a low-salt diet would help, because it had helped him tremendously.

(One of the things that kind of surprises me is that no one pushed this before - my dad has taken low doses of blood pressure medications for probably 12 years now. I know, they don't think the salt --> high blood pressure connection is quite as tight as they once did, but still)

So my dad decided to try it. Now, some women, upon hearing that, would throw up their hands and go, "That's it. I can't cook for you any more" but my mother is an intelligent, compassionate, and resourceful woman, so she said, "Well, this is going to be a challenge, but let's see what we can do to make good food that's low in salt."

Somehow they found the Penzeys' catalog. Penzeys is a general spice company but one of the things they do is make a number of herb-spice blends that are salt free. (And they very helpfully have a little symbol in their catalog indicating which are). So they ordered a bunch from them and were very happy.

The last couple times I was up visiting I got to try some of the dishes made with the spices and I agreed they were good - some of the blends on offer are "Bavarian Spice" (which is good on pork or turkey cutlets but which I also think would be good in bean soup), "Mural of Flavor" (which is just a good general spice combo - good on vegetables, good on meat, good in soup), and "Tuscan Sunset" (as you might guess, a northern Italian blend).

So I ordered some from them - got some Bavarian Spice and Mural of Flavor to use for myself, plus a few other things.

One of the things I got was the Brady Street cheese sprinkle. Now, this is NOT low-salt, but I figure I've got at least ten more years (maybe more than that, if I take after my mom physiologically) that I can eat salt.

It's advertised as being a simple way to make garlic bread and after using it the way I used it tonight, I think it would make superior garlic bread.

What I did, was take some fresh garden tomatoes, cut them in half, put some Panko breadcrumbs on them, a little olive oil, and then sprinkled the cheese sprinkle over the whole thing. Then I baked them in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Oh, man, Oh, they were GOOD. They were I'm-going-to-make-that-AGAIN-tomorrow-night good. The cheese sprinkle was the perfect topping.

It's funny, but I tend to be proudest of and happiest with the very simple dishes that I make that turn out well - I'm more pleased when I can take a couple ingredients and one dish and combine them and have something tasty than I am with the big production-dishes where I'm making a separate sauce and stir frying some things and steaming others and I wind up using nearly every pan I own. And I don't think it's just the fact of my having more to clean up afterwards with the production-dishes; I think it's that I see it as fundamentally more of a challenge to do something good out of a few ingredients - that something good and simple is more difficult to achieve than something good and complex.

The Penzeys' catalog is fun to look at. Or at least fun if you're a cook like me who likes to have all kinds of different seasonings on hand. (Seriously - I do not have a spice "rack," I have a spice "shelf" and even then they don't all fit on the cabinet shelf I have designated for them). There's so much different stuff, some of it stuff (like some of the Asian and Indian spices) that I've never even heard of, much less eaten. And the blends are interesting (and of the ones I've tried, good).

They also have a few other things. Like Raspberry Enlightenment, which has the most wonderfully redonkulous label ever.

Wait a minute...I can show you.



1968 called! They want their graphic design back!

(Wow, it was hard to get a clear photo. If you can't read that, it says "Turn on your food" Hahahahahaha. I wonder how many people of my generation are really familiar with that meaning of "turn on" - not "turn on" as in "turn against" [though if some of the anti-obesity crusaders had their way, we probably would be turned against many foods]. I also like the "sorceress" on the label.)

Seriously, this sounds like a good product, all irony aside. It supposedly can be used to make a raspberry vinaigrette dressing, or, with different ingredients, a not-too-sweet sauce for ice cream. And that idea intrigues me - that it's so widely useful. (Raspberry vinaigrette is my favorite salad dressing but it can be hard to find one that's not too vinegary). I'm also thinking it might be a good base for a marinade for chicken or even shrimp.

I just generally enjoy cooking - I especially enjoy trying new things and making up my own recipes, so it's nice to have another source of seasonings. And as I've said many times before, I LOVE mail-ordering stuff, I love being able to look forward to something coming for me in the mail, I love being able to get stuff I need without having to drive all over Creation to find it. So Penzeys' is a place I'm keeping in my bookmarks (tho' I guess I will be getting their print catalog now as well, which is also nice, because they put recipes in it). And it makes me happy that they exist.

3 comments:

Kucki68 said...

That label might also make a great stitchery pattern I think...

Anonymous said...

I had never heard of Penzey's before I moved to Madison. And when I was there, I went to their shop a few times and heard them mentioned on PBS as a sponsor, but I didn't think much of it.

Lately I've been hearing about them a lot and I keep wondering why I only bought things for OTHER people when I went in there (they do nice gift baskety things). Their shop is great, though, very cozy and wonderful-smelling.

Anonymous said...

Oooo... Thanks for that link. I want just about everything! A nice simple website too. I do wish they had pictures but I guess I don't really need pictures.