Every few weeks I get a Penzeys catalog in the mail. I had never heard of this company until I was getting ready to get married, and my husband-to-be asked what spices I thought would be necessary in our new home. "Oh, don't worry about that," I told him, "it'll be fun picking them out at the grocery store." Little did I know how much difference there could be in something as seemingly straightforward as black pepper. Not to mention oregano, thyme, rosemary, and everything else.
Now, I wasn't completely happy with the spices I had had--I regularly tried to grow my own, and sought out smaller companies that I hoped would have a better product. But for some reason, mail order had never occurred to me. I don't know how my husband found this company, but I'm terribly glad he did. Our simplest dishes are the better for it.
And in every issue of their catalog, there are recipes. Good, hearty, mid-western style recipes. Meat and potatoes, wonderfully flavored with their spices. This issue (Winter 2001) features six winter soups and stews and a cinnamon quick coffee cake. (Well, they feature homemade hot chocolate, but I'm happy with my recipe for that.)
Trial by Fire: Cinnamon Quick Coffee Cake. Quick is right--under an hour from preheating the oven to digging in. Great for brunches, afternoon coffees, or dessert, when you're short on ingredients: nothing fancy required here. Deceptively light, this cake almost begs you to eat a second slice. Even my husband's grandmother, an excellent cook and a selective eater, was pleased with this. The whole house smelled wonderful after baking this. The only change I'd make would be to increase the amount of streusel topping--it was good enough to deserve doubling.
Baked Potato Soup Well, this did turn into a trial by fire, as the paper-towel-lined plate I had ready for the bacon found itself a little too close to the flame. Quickly extinguished, and no harm done, despite images of the whole house going up in flames! This soup takes some time: a bit over an hour for the potatoes to bake, then cool, then to be made into soup. Lots of onion to be sauteed, and bacon to be crisped. All the steps are easy, though, making it a good selection for a stay-at-home Saturday. Baking the potatoes first gives them a better texture than mere boiling, and a somewhat deeper flavor. We opted for back bacon, rather than the regular kind, with poor result--stick to the recipe on this one!
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