If you’re hosting a New Year’s Eve party at home this year we’ve got a great selection of top quality party food and drink at prices that mean you can entertain in style without going overboard on the cost.

Some of our Extra Special party nibbles have been specially selected by chefs from top cookery shool Leiths – they loved our Extra Special Cranberry topped mini pork pies layered with cranberry and special reserve port chutney and our Extra Special Mini Steak and Ale pies filled with tender steak in a rich Dorset ale gravy.

It’s great to have some handy pop-in-the-oven snacks throughout the festive season – top-sellers over Christmas have included Extra Special Black Tiger Prawn Wontons and our Extra Special Duck selection

We’ve put together a sample menu of canapes and drinks that works out at just £6.14 per head for 10 people. This will give you enough for each person to have eight bites each and three drinks:

• Pastry option: Extra Special mini pork pies topped with cranberry (£3 serves 6)
• Meat option: Extra Special Duck Selection (£4 serves 12)
• Fish option: Extra Special Black Tiger Prawn Wontons (£4 serves 10)
• Vegetarian option: Extra Special Gruyère and Poppy Seed Twists (£1.30 for 125g, one pack serves 5)
• Sweet option: Chosen by you mini cheesecakes (£2.00 serves 12)
• Cava: Extra Special Cava (£9.98, one bottle serves 6)
• Red wine: Extra Special Crozes Hermitages (£8.17, one bottle serves 6)
• White wine: Extra Special Viognier (£6.97, one bottle serves 6)
• Beer: Carling (£12 for a 12 pack)

If you fancy rolling up your sleeves and doing a bit more work in the kitchen the chefs from Leiths have got lots of great tips and suggestions – including beef carpaccio, three ways to jazz up cocktail sausages, and a simple but stunning pomegranate Champagne cocktail.

Our Extra Special chef Mark Richmond will be on hand in the run-up to Christmas to answer your questions about cooking – whether you’ve got two or 20 people coming for Christmas dinner.

You might want to know how to make the perfect bread sauce, or how to get your roast potatoes just right – or simply what he’ll be cooking on Christmas Day.

Mark, who has previously worked in Michelin star restaurants, has helped create our Extra Special range and is looking forward to answering your questions. To get him started we asked Mark for a suggestion on what to cook for a vegetarian guest.

Question: We have a vegetarian guest for Christmas lunch. What can I cook for them?

Mark says: "Why not try a Vegetarian Filo pastry Christmas cracker and fill with a stuffing made of nuts, seeds, fruit squash, cheese or mushrooms.

“Cut and butter four Filo pastry sheets about 15cm square, layering each one on top of the next.

“Roll the pastry sheets around the stuffing leaving about 1½ inches at each end of the pastry so when you roll you can pinch the ends to create the cracker shape.

“Boil some chives for a couple of seconds in water and cool in cold water. Use them to tie the ends of the cracker. Bake in a hot oven, Gas mark 5 (180°C) for 25 minutes till golden brown.”

Have you got a question for Mark? Leave a comment below and we’ll pass it on. He’ll try to answer as many as possible so keep checking back over the next few days.

When it comes to buying wines for the festive season it’s nice to try something a bit different, but what to choose?

This year we’ve won more than 120 awards for our wines including trophies for our Rioja and Rosé Champagne.

We asked Our Master of Wines Philippa Carr to recommend her favourite wines from Asda for the festive season.

If you like red she recommends the Asda Marques del Norte Rioja 2010 – an award-winning wine for just £4.24 – “Smooth and spicy with plummy notes, it’s a fabulous red that complements your Christmas turkey”.

Or if you’re having beef go for our Extra Special Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 – a classic French red “bursting with ripe berry and cedar flavours – it will certainly wow your guests.”

If you prefer white Philippa recommends our award-winning French Extra Special Viognier 2010 – “Ideal for Boxing Day buffets and parties. It’s a beautifully soft and aromatic wine with wonderful floral notes and a deliciously creamy and nutty finish.”

And this sweet Spanish Moscatel de Valencia wine (£3.98) goes well with Christmas pudding – “A dessert wine at a great-value price.”

Katie from our wine team has also put together this handy guide to matching wines to the food you’ll be eating at Christmas and New Year.

• Extra Special Chablis: “An elegant way to start a meal, minerally, fresh and crisp pairs well with fish.”
  
  

• Extra Special Chardonnay – Award winning wine from Paul Mas. Creamy, nutty and a perfect match to smoked salmon.
  
  

• Extra Special Cotes de Bourg – New into our Extra Special range. Bordeaux wines are a classic match to red meats, as the red meat softens the tannins on the wine. Very berried and cedary.
  
  

• Extra Special Rioja Reserva: “Goes well with you turkey dinner and all the trimmings, the Rioja adds a bit of red fruit and spice it is smooth and warming with the dish.”
  
  

Festive bubbly: See our deals on Champagne and sparkling wines and find out what Philippa and Katie recommend here.