Savoursmiths Truffle and Rosemary Potato Crisps (Waitrose) By @Cinabar

I don’t normally mention prices on Foodstuff Finds. Generally we don’t spend a lot of money to buy products to write about, a packet of crisps here and a chocolate bar there, we don’t tend to buy the really expensive items. That said, I went to Waitrose and I bought this bag of sharing crisps, and the price was £2.99, which I think might be the most expensive bag of crisps I’ve bought, so I felt it worthy of a mention.
So why are these nearly £3, well it seems they are flavoured with truffle, that remarkable rare and expensive mushroom. They are also from a range of luxury brand, and to be fair all the packs seemed quite expensive.

Inside the bag the crisp are fairly thickly cut, and hard and crunchy. The skins are on, and all the crisps looked quite small compared to others I’ve tried. Small crisps aren’t that odd, but I couldn’t see any large crisps in the bag at all.
I have to admit the flavour was very tasty. The rosemary gave this a lovely summery fresh herb taste, and the truffle added a nice rich taste of mushroom. Think herb butter coated mushrooms and you won’t be far off. They are not to strong but mushroom flavouring on crisps really worked, and the rosemary gave them such a good tangy finish, I did enjoy the bag.
These crisps are ideal if you want to have them out during a very posh barbecue and you want to impress. They have a place, but sadly at the price it isn’t everyday snacking. They are an occasion crips, and I look forward to thinking up an occasion to have them again.

Giovanni Rana - Butter & Sage sauce - with mushrooms [by @NLi10]

It's always nice to get a big box in the post. Even if the couriers have cracked the box and then had a peek inside to check its not broken! Luckily it was all in tact and fine.

So what goodies do we have here then?

Oh dear. It's mushrooms. The one food that I'm slightly afraid of! Well it is Halloween week, and I have a partner who absolutely adores them so it should go fine. I think I must have had a traumatic experience with a mushroom as a child, it isn't a rational fear. It's how I presume other people think of spiders and heights and clowns, it's my body trying to protect me from something harmless and covered in horrible fins and oddness.

For the first attempt we needed something quick and easy. The review request called for recipes, but with a quick and easy sauce you want a quick and easy recipe to go with it. 

This recipie called for good quality farm shop cheese (the really strong stuff), lots of fresh herbs, pine nuts, and the two biggest mushrooms in the box which my partner prepared and cooked.

I was in charge of the real focus of the review - butter and sage sauce by Giovanni Rana.  Regular readers will know how ridiculously evangelical I got about the meaty stuffed pastas when they first came on the market - being that they actually had soft runny centres when cooked perfectly and a wonderful flavour. They are a great lunch or part of dinner. I'd assumed that these sauces were to go with those too, but we can get to that later.

This is the wonderful creation that resulted. I heated the sauce separately as per instructions and attempted to drizzle it over the mushrooms in a Masterchef style.  

And the verdict was good, my partner praised the way the deep, creamy flavour of the sauce complemented the mushrooms. She said that it made a filling meal (with a few bits from below) and that it was definitely something she'd consider making again.

I however declined the frilly cheesy monstrosities and opted to make something more refined.  Usually we cook two meals as one is for the veggie and one for me, this time it was two veggie meals - but one completely mushroom free.

I went for the simple option of heating the sauce up and then pouring over (admittedly quite generic) pasta. I wanted to challenge the sauce to see exactly what it tasted like without all the extras.

I did however take the focaccia bread out of the parcel, heat it up and have a rather generous helping with my meal.

I sprinkled with a few scissor cut sun-dried tomatoes and ate away! 

I agreed that the sauce was a lot darker in flavour than I'd expected, not so carbonara and more strong herbs. It clung to the pasta well and was a great consistancy neither being to thick nor too runny. I'm glad I added the tomatoes for a little pizzaz as it didn't have enough chunky bits to vary the flavour, but I guess that's why we are using it as an ingredient and not the final sauce.  With the bread to mop up the remaining bits it was a pleasure to eat and something I'd actively look out for in future - and probably look for the other flavour which is the Creamy Carbonara - but I wouldn't be able to share that one.

Through out the rest of the week we progressed through the food parcel - that is to say my partner and her friends ate a lot of mushrooms, and I enjoyed the bread pasta and sauce.

She used a selection of the button mushrooms chopped up small and heated in the sauce to make an accompanyment to pasta.

This gave the mushrooms a nice texture and the sauces herby nature really got a chance to shine.

I however opted to try the new sauce with the old favourite of the Giovanni Rana filled pasta.

Sauce in the microwave, 1 min boiling pasta, instant gourmet meal for one.

Yes - my service skills aren't up to par here, but you get the idea. This is Italian elegance simplified so that even I can get all the flavours and textures I love at home.  Well worth picking up.