If Lidl would like to sponsor me for this post, it would be greatly appreciated. However, as it stands, I have written this out of the goodness of my heart and not because I have been endorsed to do so (I hate not being an influencer).
Anyway, the purpose of this post is to show you all how Mum and I created a little Antipasto evening to enjoy on our new garden furniture! With the weather being so pleasant recently, my parents decided to get some new furniture for our decking. We already have our little decking room (donned this great name by none other than my mother - genius, I know) comprising of a rattan corner sofa, table, chairs and gazebo, so Mum and Dad bought a bistro style table and chairs from Jysk to go alongside it!
Cute, right? I love sitting out here to have my morning coffee!
We wanted to put our little bistro to more use though, and after Mum saw an antipasto platter in Lidl earlier in the week, we decided this was the perfect way to enjoy it!
So, the first thing you'll need is a suitable space. I'd definitely recommend eating al fresco (it is an Italian style evening, after all) so try and make use of whatever garden space you have! Once you've found your space, you need to spruce it up a little, which was my job during the day.
1. Clean. For me, this meant wiping down the table and sweeping the decking!
2. Decorate. This comes down to personal taste, I just hung some fairy lights and lit a candle - low effort but nice effect.
Now, onto the food.
For less than £5.00 we got some prosciutto, salami, olives and cheese in this little antipasti set.
Additionally, we bought some other snacks from Lidl, and used a couple of things we already had in at home. You can arrange your antipasto platter on some sort of fancy sharing plate, but Mum and I instead opted for individual plates, so we could put on exactly what we wanted! Mine is below.
After I took this photograph I actually added some cheddar onto the plate too, just in case I didn't like the cheese from the platter! Below, you can see both of our little buffets, Mum's was much the same as mine but she had a few more olives to try, some caramelised onion chutney, and some cherry tomatoes.
Who arranged it better? You decide!
We both agreed that we really enjoyed most of it, and were only slightly skeptical about the olives and the cheese from the set! We both expected this anyway to be honest so weren't disappointed, neither of us are picky eaters (as I'm sure you're already picking up) but olives are such an acquired taste, and the cheese was just super strong! Of course this comes down to personal preference, so I wouldn't deter anyone from going out and buying this kit because it was great value for money and the parts we liked, we really liked! I would recommend buying a few extras to go alongside though, just as we did. If you have a look at what's on offer from the deli counter in your supermarket, I'm sure you'll find a few things that would work perfectly for an antipasto evening.
The evening after our antipasto evening we bought a few bits to enjoy the rest of our cured meats with, so I have a few things I'd recommend:
- Grapes
- Ciabatta/Crusty Role (Basically some sort of tasty bread)
- An assortment of cheese
- Fruit (grapes, strawberries etc.)
- Vegetables and Hummus (Carrot sticks, celery etc.)
Then for drinks, I went for one of Lidl's ciders, but ideally I think you should pair this sort of meal with a glass of wine! We just didn't have a bottle open on this occasion.
So, there you have it, the recipe to a great antipasto evening. It's short and sweet but that shows how simple it is to pull something like this off!
As always, thank you for reading, stay turned for Monday's post - which will be another update on my life post-placement. Until then!