Going out for the night to make your own dinner isn’t something you’d normally do but that’s what a group of bloggers and online writers did last night.
Let loose in the kitchens at renowned school of culinary perfection Leith’s, we made our own dinner from a selection of Asda Extra Special products that have been tried and tested by the cookery school’s kitchens in time for Christmas.
We chopped, we stirred, we even baked chocolate roulade in the professional copper saucepan decked kitchens. Katie and Becky were busy making starters and canapes here. Kavey and Gail are lurking somewhere in the back. Each group of four made their own dinner and presented the canapes and desserts how they wished. The Leith’s crew were in charge of plating up which was probably a good thing….
It’s easy to look over competitively priced brands usually associated with the lower end of the market but I make my decisions on taste/value rather than what’s fashionable to praise or decry. The Christmas project is the start of a long term process which will see Leith’s overhaul the entire Extra Special range of food.
A whole range of Christmas goodies from stollen to florentines and chutneys to cheese have been put through their paces by the institution that trained names such as Gizzi Erskine, Lorraine Pascale and Lulu Grimes.
If what we ate last night is a taste of what we can look forward to, this range is not only going to live up to its name but be fantastic value too.
Goat’s cheese crostini with walnut and drizzled blossom honey.
Peppered salmon and cream cheese canapes
Sausages with mango chutney and greek yogurt dip
Roast squash and tomatoes with broccoli and garlic and chilli dressing
Rack of venison with sprout and chorizo stir fry
Show stopper dessert – Helen of Fuss Free Flavours presents chocolate roulade.
All this gorgeous food (too much too much, sadly we could barely face the cheese and mince pies afterwards!) was made using items from Asda’s Extra Special range. I was struck by easy it was to combine items from the range to come up with interesting dishes – the salmon crostini being made from their smoked salmon, cream cheese and horseradish sauce with nothing more than a squirt of lemon.
We all came away fantasising about doing the professional chef’s course at Leith’s. Oh and in the interests of disclosure a heap of Asda products to feed our visitors over Christmas and a copy of the whopping Leith’s Cookery Bible.
Would you like to try some of the range out for yourself? Why not enter today’s giveaway…
With thanks to Asda and Leith’s
Giveaway #33: Win an Asda Extra Special Christmas Hamper
What’s inside?
- Extra Special Xmas pudding
- Extra Special All -Butter Mini mince pies
- Extra Special Roasted Hazelnut & Fruit Stollen
- Extra Special Yule Log
- Extra Special Roast Pork and Crackling Hand Cooked Crisps
- Extra Special Forest Fruit Butter Crumbles
- Extra Special Applewood Smoked Cheddar and winter chutney Hand Cooked Crisps
- Extra Special Fairtrade Columbian Roast and Ground Coffee
- Extra Special Artisan Biscuits for Cheese
- Extra Special Florentines
- Extra Special Black olive Breadsticks
- Extra Special Continental Delicacies
- Extra Special Gruyere and poppy seed twists
- Extra Special All butter – Sundried Tomato and cheese Crumbles
- Extra Special Cava
- Extra Special Cranberry Sauce
- Extra Special Caramelised Onion Chutney
- Extra Special Goosefat
This prize sponsored by Asda
HOW TO ENTER
- Complete the Rafflecopter form below to confirm your entries made via blog comments, Twitter, Facebook etc.
- This giveaway is set to run until Sunday 18th December 2011.
- Do read the rules below.
- Winners are announced on the Rafflecopter form after claiming prizes.
First timers: How Rafflecopter works (video clip)
- No form showing? Hit refresh and it should appear
- Complete the form – or your entries will not go into the draw
- Mandatory entries to be completed first; i.e. leave a blog comment
- Want more chances to win? Come back daily to confirm bonus entries via Twitter
- Viewing this by email? You need to click through to enter.
Good luck!
RULES:
1. Open to UK residents over the age of 18.
2. The prize is an Asda Extra Special Christmas Hamper as described above. Exact contents may vary.
3. Instructions form part of the terms and conditions.
4. No fibs: each winner’s tweet entries and subscriptions etc are cross checked, cheats will have ALL entries disqualified.
5. This giveaway is hosted on behalf of prize sponsor Asda who will deliver the prize(s) following confirmation of winners’ contact details.
6. The prize sponsor’s decision is final and binding on entrants; no further correspondence will be entered into.
7. There is no cash or alternative to the prize stated.
8. The prize is selected in good faith, however the prize sponsor may substitute with one similar value/type if original one is unavailable.
9.Winners are picked by Rafflecopter using random.org and the site owner contacts them by the email.
10. Failure to claim prizes within 7 days will result in a replacement winner being chosen.
Come back soon – I’m going to be giving away a Bosch Tassimo Coffee Machine
Other Maison Cupcake giveaways to enter
Oh my goodness! Yet another fantastic giveaway! I haven’t bought anything from the Extra Special range before, I’d be interested to see what it is like! 🙂 xx
Great giveaway! The item I would most like to find in a foodie hamper has to be a caramelised onion chutney with cheese and crackers 🙂
I love anything with chocolate in a hamper!
I’d like to find some smoked salmon – nobody else in the family likes it so I never think of buying it just for me!
Gorgeous giveaway! Anything with Chocolate does it for me 🙂 @mamamakes
nice mince pies or christmas pudding
Cheese, cheese cheese and nuts. I don’t eat that much cheese the rest of the year because I can’t really justify the cost of good stuff, but at Christmas, yes please!
Looks like everyone had a great time
Wow, I’d love to find lots of fishy seafood things in my hamper, smoked salmon, smoked trout, pickled herrings and then for afters some lovely sweet things, dulce de leche, jams and cake and some delicious choccies – greedy, moi! Just call me Miss Piggy mwhha ha ha!
A winning lottery ticket lying at the bottom of the hamper after all the goodies had been oohed and ahhed over. Failing that a feast of artisan chocolates!
Looks like you had some fun cooking up that meal. I can even recognise a few faces now.
Anything with chocolate would be great in a hamper 🙂
Great giveaway!! Good Luck all x
Looks like a fun evening and such amazing food!! For me, it has to be yule log and I see there’s one in this hamper 🙂
This hamper looks fantastic. Cheese would be my favourite thing in a Xmas hamper
I’d love to find a fantastic sushi platter in my hamper, I know it isn’t traditionally Christmas but it is my favourite food and I always want to try more.
Magic fairies to make everything just so would be nice. But that’s not very practical now is it. And I am against the grain with most, as I hate chocolate, but Turkish delight would be rather fabulous.
Chocolate……..yummmmmmmm
now that cookery school day out is something i’m seriously envious of… why do I not get invited out on days like this eh?… I guess winning a hamper would help some…
Looks like a really good event! Everything looks fab!
I would like most to find in my hamper Gary Barlow, but in the interest of keeping it foodie then I will settle for a very big box of florentines!
Some quality chocolate truffles. mmmm
Sherry Triffle 🙂
A Fruit Stollen and a bottle of mulled wine
Thanks for the fab giveaway!
chocolate
This hamper looks great!
I’d like to find some smoked salmon – nobody else in the family likes it so I never think of buying it just for me!
Chocolate 😀
a lovely bottle of wine
THOSE LITTLE MARZIPAN FRUITS
Wow, how amazing does that hamper look? There’s a yule log in there too, I’m a sucker for yule log 🙂
Good quality chocolates.
What an amazing hamper! I’m really excited about Extra Special Roasted Hazelnut & Fruit Stollen.Yum Yum
Jalapeno poppers, not very Christmassy lol but I love them!
Where do I start, boned and rolled quail, smoked salmon, caviar, cheese crackers, pate, good cheese, fruits preserved in alcohol….. xxx
chocolate
Some posh chocolates
Great comp!
Id love to find a Christmas Cake – yum yum. Christmas just is not Christmas without the Cake 🙂
Cheese….and lots of it!
This hamper looks absolutely wonderful!!!
I’d love to find some good quality chocolates.
Fresh smoked Salmon, a ham shank, a fresh turkey, Christmas podding with a Brandy Sauce, a Yule Log, a Christmas cake, a jar of pickles and a jar of beetroot, sugared almonds, fresh sage for making sage and onion stuffing, fresh cranberries for the sauce, mine pies…… oooh the list goes on! Basically I would love traditional Christmas treats!
I would love to find some Belgian chocolate in foodie hamper 🙂
I’m the biggest chocoholic in UK!
choccys every time for me!
let me win please
A Bottle of vintage champagne would be fab x
Good port
Nice prize.
all butter mini mince pies
Tis the season to be jolly love this hamper 🙂
Hmm most important for me would be a bottle of Port 🙂
chocolate all the way.
Shepherds Pie
Anything with Chocolate does it for me
A box of expensive chocolates that I wouldn’t be able to afford normally (and that the rest of the family couldn’t see so I could scoff the lot!)
what I’d most like to find in a christmas hamper is a bottle of fizz, some smoked salmon and a really nice blue cheese 🙂
Would be nice Deli foods for me 😀
Christmas pudding!
Brandy butter
chocolate
Stollen! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
Chocolates with christmasy flavours
Chocolates
Fab Prize Hope I’M Lucky Enough To Win
Christmas Pudding
Any kind of chocolate 😀 x
LOOKS AMAZING X
Yum butter mini mince pies
lots of chocolate
chocolate
mmmm….. looks fantastic
Fruits such as cherries in kirsch. Yum!
luxury chocs ?
Date and Ginger pudding, I don’t like Christmas pudding as much as this.
A BIG box of chocolates because you can treat yourself to LOTS of chocolate at Christmas and not feel guilty! 🙂
Chocolate Mints, always a nice treat at Christmas
Loads of chocolate!
I seem to have a very savoury tooth at the moment so I would most like to find a huge hunk of cheese and some sort of jam as well (be it strawberry or red onion!!) its just a perfect christmas combo xxx
trimmings for the roast dinner – stuffing , chipolatas, bacon etc
biscuits!
Great prize, hope I win
Saffron
Turkey, bacon, stuffing, sprouts, potatoes and peas.
If veggie: all the above, replacing turkey and bacon with nut roast.
Also, Xmas pud and mince pies.
lots of chocolate
..
MACADEMIA NUTS AND CHOCOLATE
Nuts! Especially walnuts, brazils and hazelnuts, we buy them unshelled so the children can gather round and watch!
I would love some good quality chocolate!
Mince pies or crisps and nibbles for unexpected guests turning up
I love savoury, so cheese, crackers and nuts would be good x
champagne for me
CHOCOLATES!!!!!!!!
Looks like a fabulous hamper, I’d love to win!
Mince pies!
chocolate
Chocolates, Yule Log & Mince Pies! xx
Some sort of Christmassy inspired preserve, jam or chutney.
Champagne would be lovely, I would drink it early Christmas morning to start the day with a fizz
Definitely some yummy chocolates to share with the whole family
@caro_mad
I’d most like to find James Martin carrying a tray of delicious mince pies! Yes please James!
Shortbread, I love it and, although you can buy it year round, I only buy it at Christmas time for a real treat
stilton and port!!!
Thanks for the competition
Chocolate!
Pigs in Blankets. They make christmas i love them.
Awesome giveaway, thanks!
I’d most like to find something indulgent. Something the adults can enjoy. Really nice chocolate or sweets.
liked shared n comented 😀
I’d most like to find turkish delight.
Canapes! I love to bake, and make my own Christmas cake, but I’m always too busy at Christmas to make nibbles!
chocolate lots of it!
Cheesecake, my hublet can’t stand cheesecake, so it would be all mine – mwa-ha-ha! Otherwise, something with cheese and something with chocolate, I guess I’d share it, grudgingly ;o)
Always choccies!
lovely prize 🙂
Some posh yummy chocolate would be nice
Chocolate!
Yummy chocolate!!!
Chocolate truffles please
Chocolate
Chocolate of course!
I would love sprouts in mine!! mmmmmmmmmmmmmm
a bottle of Irish Coffee mix mmmm
Pate
Fab competition!
Fab prize and the evening making all that food sounds like heaven!
A sexy chef to cook my xmas dinner! Would he fit in a hamper??
I would most like the find a selection of beautiful cheeses, with chutneys and biscuits to accompany them! x
I would like to find some posh biscuits.
Pate or cheese (or both)
I think a nice chocolate sounds good to me too.
This is a gorgeous Christmas hamper.. would love to win this to share with family and friends…
I would love to find hand rolled truffles and maybe a juicy Christmas cake.
I love Pigs in Blankets.
I would like to find smoked salmon and champagne
Cheese, biscuits and chutney in the evening.
Brandy! I always need it on Christmas Day and usually forget to buy it.
Dark chocolate for me!
I,d love to find Brad Pitt coated in chocolate…HEY a girl can dream and they do say dreams come true at Christmas time!!!!
I would like to find some really nice cheese and biscuits
Cheese and biscuits x
Really fancy mince pies
I would like to find some lovely handmade chutney to go with the cold turkey on Boxing Day!
Just came across your site…I’ll be returning regularly I think :o)
smoked salmon @MummyFever
I would love to find something REALLY indulgent. Like caviar! Or some lush pate. 😉
Christmas pudding
I’d like to find Mince Pies – my favourite part of christmas!
I’d most like to find cheeses, my favourite Wensleydale with Cranberrys, but also something I’ve not tried before!
coffee and chocolate please!
Champagne – but I’d settle for a bottle of Australian fizz!
Champagne Truffles
Christmas pudding
ROSES
Stollen, I love it especially the almond paste in the centre, I can almost taste it 🙂
I’d love to find Helen’s chocolate roulade in my Christmas hamper – it looks delish! But failing that, a bottle of the new Baileys Biscotti flavour would be nice. Only drink Baileys at Christmas, so would be a perfect addition 🙂
I would like to find a lot of chocolates
Mince pies and christmas pudding 🙂
I would love to find chocolates and some champagne – anything that would give me a little pleasure after an otherwise stress filled day 🙂
Oooh a scrummy bottle of Baileys any flavour, I’m easy 🙂
cheese, wine, christmas cake
some lovely biscuits to go with my nice cup of tea
A small home-made Christmas cake – I’m the only one in my family that likes it so if I make one I end up eating it all!
Mmmh I think Mince Pies… else we won’t have any this year (for some reason I always forget to buy them!)
Off to tweet too
a selection of cheeses & chutneys.. Nom nom
I’d like a nice chutney to have with the cheese board and meats at supper
I’d love a selection of British cheeses and pickles/chutneys.
The chutneys and pickles are the best parts of hampers 🙂 this one looks amazing.
some really unusual ingredients to experiment with and make all the leftovers a bit more exciting
I would be grateful of anything at the minute, Xmas is tight this year x
Anything to do with Chocolate!!
Bread sauce, as no one else likes it.
I would love to find Smoked salmon in a hamper for me a speciel treat yummy
I’d like to find an alcoholic Xmas pud 🙂
I’d love to find a three vird roast with turkey, goose and duck! Yummuy!
Chocolate Christmas log. yum yum!
chocolates, wine and lots of lovely treats that you dont usually buy for yourself :o)
Anything with mazipan on it
Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate!
a lovely stollen for my husband. He loves it
Delicious Mince pies
i would love to find chocolate as we all love it xx
I’d love to find some delicious Christmassy biscuits to share with my girls.
CHOCOLATE FUDGE LOG – me and my daughters christmas treat
A nice cheese board some grapes and a bottle (or two) of red wine
What an amazing hamper with things in it you would actually use! Would love this!
In a Christmas hamper? George Clooney (preferably naked with a rose between his teeth ;))
A box of shortbread.
Always, always, always nice chocolates – not the nasty cheap stuff!!
Chutney and cheese on crackers.
Chocolat Log !! The best
Chocolates would make my perfect hampers lots of them
In my Christmas hamper I would love to find Rachel Allen & James Martin, save me a bit of effort in the kitchen 🙂
nice brie-i love it
I’d love to find some nice chocolates in my hamper :o)
I know its weird but bread and dripping from the turkey !!!!!!
Great hamper 🙂 x
I would most love lots of chocolate goodies in a hamper!
chocolate because ive been on a diet for 2 months and cant wait for a xmas treat (or treats lol).
I would most like to see a delicious chocolate log, decorated with Christmas designs as I have a sweet tooth!
Would love to find mince pies and christmas cake and a bottle of Cava in my hamper delicious!
A stand pie, always reminds me of Christmas evening. Yummy! Great hamper xx
amaretto, yummy!
Choccie yule log xx
I’d love a hamper of desserts other than mince pies/xmas cake/xmas pud (yuk) – what is wrong with a nice chocolate cake!
tangerine vodka
please enter me in the giveaway. @baudsley – twitter
Lots of chocolate! 🙂
LOTS OF CHEESE!
Luxurious Christmas Pud…Hmmm happy days
Yule log is a christmas must.
please enter me
chutneys and wine of course
Please enter me…all looks delicious!
Would love to win the hamper
i would like to find some luxurious hot chocolates with mini marshmallows to put in
Luxury mince pies..can’t get enough!!
I’d love to find a chef who can cook Xmas dinner for me! : )
Homemade sausage rolls made with lovely buttery pastry
Anything chocolaty!
It has got to be Christmas Pudding
Some lovely cheese
A luxury yule log.
It looks like you had a fun day. I would love a bottle of wine in mine
Would love to see a glazed ham in the hamper
I love to find a special liquour that can be used throughout the year, the best one I ever received was a vodka based blackberry liquour – gorgeous!
a lovely glass of baileys to wast mine down. Great day
oooh some lovely moist Stollen!
please enter me in the giveaway
I would love to find cheese in a hamper, I love all the different types and flavours
Have to be Dundee cake I wont buy it because im the only one that likes it but I do love it x
Mince pies 🙂 lol
pigs in blankets 🙂
I love all cheeses. Hamper looks fab. Its my first time to host this year, would be a fab prize to win.
I think some decadent chocolate brownies would look good in the hamper!
A lovely glazed ham with cloves
Cheese!
cheese, biscuits and chutneys
What a fab prize
My husband – he’s rather edible!
Champagne, the pink kind 🙂
Lots of expensive food that I normally wouldn’t buy.
Mulled wine … what more do you need?!
x
Chocolateeeee!!!
I’d like to find Ecclefechan Tarts, Sainsburys have started doing them and they’re just heaven, I prefer them over mince pies!
some alcohol 🙂
I’d most like to find a chocolate christmas log! 🙂 x
I would love to find some lovely cheeses (and biscuits to go with them!)
I’d love to find cheese, and a nice bottle of red xx
If anyone doesn’t love to find chocolate in a foodie hamper I’m Santa Claus! 😛 @pipersky1 🙂
Brandy snaps!!!! I LOVE them!!! xx
Hungry now 🙂
Chocolate and more chocolate – I’m addicted x
Some gorgeous tasty cheese with some flavoured olives xx
I would love to find something either cheesy or chocolatey!
Post biscuits. I love posh biscuits!
I’d like to find soft cheeses to spread on crackers as an antidote to all the sweet stuff at Christmas.
I’d love a lovely luxury tasty pate to enjoy with some gorgeous crackers 😀
champagne
Some lovely Cheddar Cheese
looks so yummy!
Fabulous cheeses and delicious chutnys
Lots of lovely cheese – mmmmm
I’d most like to find a beautiful boozey Christmas pudding!
Some lovely pate!
I’d most like to find Stollen !
i want to win it
and me
Yule log
I would love to find a gorgeous box of chocolate truffles…yummy!
I would love to have a juicy christmas pud.
A christmas pudding!
I’d love to find a lovely chocolatey Yule log in my hamper.
I love savoury food so really nice cheeses or olives etc
A box of very expensive choccies!
a box of liquorice delights!!!
Cheese oatcakes for my cheeseboard
good wine
Melt in the middle chocolate pud – my favourite.
Shortbread biscuits!!