How to entertain within your points

So we had visitors for dinner last night. It was a mad week in work and I didn't get to plan as far in advance as I'd have liked to...... but I had it in my head either to do a Spanish or Italian theme. 

I opted for Italian and the menu included: 

Aperitif: Aperol Spritz 5sp 

Starter: Antipasto 11sp

Main Course: Slow cooked Italian lamb shank, roasted new potatoes and green beans. 18 sp

Dessert: Pavlova (technically not Italian, but I could make in advance and the points were lower than Italian alternatives. 7sps

So in total 41 points. Do you think that's good value for your points? I happily used all my weeklies to accommodate this.

Here's how I divvied up my antipasto points:

I stayed away from the salami, you can see from the pic, it has more fat than the other two meats. Instead I had 2 slices of prosciutto (2sp) and 3 slices of lovely bresaola (0 sp). This was delicious and so lean, the whole packet was only 2 sps, 10 olives (1sp), rocket (0 sp) and 10g shaved Parmesan (1sp).

I put sundried tomatoes and mini  mozzarella on the platter (9sp for 100g), but instead I had baby tomatoes, basil and 1/4 a ball of low fat mozzarella with a drizzle of olive oil for 3 sps. 

Instead of shop bought stuffed peppadew peppers (11sp for 100g), I had five peppadews in brine. (1sp). (You could stuff these with 1/4 tub light soft cheese for another point). 

I had 2 breadsticks for 2sps and 2 charred artichoke hearts for 1 sps.

It was a feast and great grazing for only 11 sps. We really do eat with our eyes, this was so inviting and I didn't feel at all deprived sitting down to have this. 

I also saved points by having Pavolva for dessert. Read how here: http://notsuchastickinsect.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/how-many-points-would-you-spend-on.html