Asti and chorizo!

Reviewers in residence: Lesley, Aidan, Joanna, Paul

This weekend saw a friday night tasting session at Lesley's.

We kicked things off with a bottle of Asti (£3.45). This has to be one of Jo's favourite wines. She loves it! I am not a fan of white wine, but this is so sweet, fizzy and appley I love it too. Throw the champers out, Lidl Asti is here! I am not joking, I would drink this over that muck called champagne any day!

I am unsure if Joanna and Lesley would agree with my raving review, but they throughly enjoyed it. At 7.5% it's not going to get you drunk, but this makes it perfect if you are hosting a little soiree. At £3.45 it's not going to break the bank either.

Verdict: why are you still reading this? Be gone and purchase!!!

The Asti was accompanied by a sumptuous Lidl pasta meal Lesley cooked. We had some Sconcigli pasta (89p a bag), with some fried red onion (44p for 6!) and chorizo (£1.79). Added to this at the last minute was some spinach (80p a bag). Finally some parmigiano was sprinkled over the top (£2.99). To accompany this, Lesley prepared us a salad. The basis of this was a bag of mixed salad leaves (99p), cherry tomatoes (75p) and some fresh basil (54p).

I have to admit that I love chorizo so this meal was always going to be great. Lidl chorizo is really good too. Much cheaper than in the other supermarkets and not sold in stupidly thin slices. The meal Lesley prepared was simple and effective, there wasn't too much going on on the plate. Easily the best meal I have ever had from Lidl, easily beating last weeks (sorry Joanna).

I think Aidan enjoyed it too, although he seemed to just pick the pasta out and ignore the chorizo and spinach. Therefore I had to finish this up for him a few hours later when I was hungry again. Top marks came from Joanna and Lesley too. Defiantly worth cooking again.

For dessert we were going to have some of the classic vitamin friends so beloved by Lesley. However the Nicolson Street store had none! We had to fall back on some cola bottles (89p). They were good, but Lesley and I both agreed they were not as good as fizzy cola bottles. At 89p I don't think they are that much of a bargain either.

As I sat back to watch a bit of aussie rules on the tv and the girls were chatting about girly stuff I reflected on a fine night of food and drink. I would certainly recommend the Asti and food. We were slightly shocked at the price all this came to - £13.59. However, this did include wine, and the parmigiano was not cheap. There was certainly enough food to be had for 5 adults.