When I was on my way to the Food Evening Taste Experience at Tesco Kensington last week little did I expect a detailed and informative presentation about how the Tesco Finest* range is created by a very passionate set of people who are proud to know all about how and where the ingredients are sourced from.Everything including the stunning new packaging has been planned well down to the last-minute detail.

There was a very tempting display of Tesco Finest* goodies and it was quite a test of self-control to not start munching on the goodies. We had various types of cheese, large variety of cold cuts, many different types of cakes ,chocolates and lot of exciting new variants of tea and coffee to dig into.

This event was to celebrate Tesco finest*range being relaunched.

Says Chrish Bush ,M.D – Tesco,U.K – ”In total, we’ll have over 1500 different products in our new finest* range and there’s a story to be told about them all. What we want to do though the new packaging and the way we talk about finest* is to show the passion, care and expertise that goes on behind the scenes to create great food.”

I most enjoyed sampling the cured ham and the various types of cheese,perfect for your Christmas Cheese board.The finest* blue Wensleydale which is handcrafted in the Yorkshire Dales , has its own unique culture that creates the blue vein and it also won supreme champion at the 2012 British Cheese Awards.

Tesco finest* blue Wensleydale supplier – Image Courtesy: Tesco

I was quite amazed to learn that the finest* Traditionally Smoked Haddock is smoked at a 100-year-old smokehouse in Lincolnshire. Joe Tummey started it up in the 1940s and has passed on all he knows to his son and grandson today. Years of using the same smokehouse makes the flavour even more intense. Boy I love-uh smoked haddock!!

The images above are courtesy Tesco

As I had earlier on in the day shopped at the mini Tesco near my place, I had given into the temptation of buying this single dark red  sweet pepper from the Finest* range ,this in addition to the new pack of sweet peppers from my goody bag I decided to combine it with the mixed fresh wild mushroom pack also from my goody bag and made us a delicious pie for the weekend .

Image Courtesy: Tesco

I had some potatoes and a big pack of smoked bacon bits too and decided to make my own stock using some flour and a Knorr cube. This is a very hearty pie and you could mix in any spare veggies that you need to finish. It serves 4 ideally but it was so tasty that hubby and me almost licked the plate dry 😉

 Sweet Pepper & Wild Mushroom Pie – Recipe using Tesco Finest*ingredients

Serves: 4 with sides or two hungry and greedy adults 🙂

Ingredients:

• 1 pack of mixed fresh WILD mushrooms from the Tesco Finest* range
• 1 pack of fresh sweet mini peppers from the Tesco Finest* range
• 200gm smoked bacon bits
• 2 large potatoes peeled and cut into thin discs like shapes
• Butter  4 large tbsp
• 2 small red onion sliced lengthwise
• 3 heaped tbsp plain flour
• 1 Knorr Chicken Cube
• 1 Puff pastry sheet
• 8” pie dish

Method:

Line an 8 inch pie dish with butter and place the disc like slices of potatoes onto it to create a base. Now add the smoked bacon bits which have been sauteed in butter onto the potatoes.

Use the delicious dark brown juicy fat after you saute’ the bacon and cook the sliced onion, peppers and chopped mushrooms in the same saucepan, just add a generous squeeze of the garlic paste and sprinkle some paprika powder if you want to amp up the heat quotient.

Now when the peppers start to turn soft load this delicious mixture which I could eat on its own onto the smoked bacon layer in the pie dish, spread it all over the pie dish to create an even layer .Now in the same saucepan add a bib blob of butter and 3 heaped teaspoons of plain flour ,stir in some water and ensure all the lumps are broken and a thick smooth paste is formed ,stir on a very low flame and crush one cube of knorr chicken into this paste. This cube should ensure that the entire pie gets the exact amount of salt it needs. After 2- 3 minutes pour this thick stock onto the peppers and watch it seep down through the layers …ummm soo soo good!

Now seal of this beauty with a sheet of puff pastry and do some creative art on the top with leaves or heart shapes or whatever you like 😉

Bake in a pre-heated oven for 25- 30 minutes until the puff pastry has risen and separate crispy layers are visible and the top has browned to a beautiful golden brown.

The sweet pepper taste coupled with the chewy earthy mushroom and the rich dark mysterious flavours of the pan fried buttery smoked bacon are simply irresistible and I helped myself to a rather greedy second helping , all washed down nicely with a big bottle of Cava 🙂

This recipe is very quick and easy to prepare and if you want to do more than one pie you can just double up the ingredients and cook both pies together depending on how big an oven you have. Recommended sides are green peas , baby carrots and a generous helping of  fresh and crunchy Iceberg lettuce salad leaves all smothered in a honey mustard dressing and topped off with freshly ground pepper and some sea salt . I can almost see a large table full of very happy and smiling guests over for a Saturday Pre-Christmas lunch. Just ensure you have plenty of blankets and amp up the heating at home as these happy guests are going to want a long nap after they tuck into your Sweet pepper & Wild mushroom pie!

Undoubtedly, the taste is enhanced by use of fresh ingredients !Many Thanks to the very cheerful and efficient team at Tesco Kensington and the efficient PR for a lovely evening, a generous goody bag and all the tipples 🙂