News Flash...We're in!!!

We had a most awesome weekend, and I just have to share it with you!
Sheffield Cider was asked to do sample tastings at all the Metropolitan Markets in the Seattle area. My husband and I had the pleasure of visiting two of their stores, and his brothers and their wives handled the other four stores in the Seattle area.  NOT only were we impressed with how beautiful the stores were, we thoroughly enjoyed meeting the management!  They are so excited to have our product in their stores, and were very gracious and accommodating with anything we needed.  It was so nice to have the "red carpet" rolled out to us.  They have chosen our cider as "the favorite pick of the season for the Thanksgiving table".  On Monday, our cider was hi-lighted on the New Day NW show in Seattle.  A clip from their show:   click here

We are totally excited with this news!  Here are some pictures from that weekend.

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Thick and Hearty Beef Stew

There is nothing in this world like a rich, beefy stew on a cold winters day!  It's one of those comfort foods that you just can't get away from. It's kind of like your grandmother ingrained it in your mother that stew was the only food that would warm you up, like your favorite quilt.  At any rate, I wanted to share with you my version of beef stew...with a twist.  I tried our Cherry Cider in it and it was simply amazing - just a touch of sweetness to enhance the beef flavor.  It's kinda the same idea when you add brown sugar to hamburger to caramelize and awaken the flavor.  I am so pleased with the result, that it will be a mainstay in my recipe- I  hope you like it too!
Beef Stew
2 Tbl. canola oil
2 lbs. stew beef, cut into 1 1/2 chunks
4 cloves of fresh garlic, 3 left whole and 1 minced
1 medium onion, cut into slivers
8 pearl onions, peeled and left whole
3 Tbl. flour
1 Tbl. Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1 Bay leaf
1 1/2 tsp. Thyme
3 rounded tsp. of Better than Bouillon Beef Base
3 cups warm water
1 cup Cherry Cider
1 cup celery, cut into chunky slices
1 1/2 cups carrots, cut into 1/2 - 3/4 inch chunks 
2 cups potatoes, 3/4 inch chunks
8 large sized white button or crimini type mushrooms, sliced in half
Saute the beef chunks in oil in a dutch oven pot on the stove until browned on the outside.  Remove from pot and set aside.  Add the sliced onions, whole pearl onions, whole garlic, and sliced mushrooms and brown in the meat drippings until caramelized brown.  Add the crushed clove of garlic and stir for 1 minute more.  I like to add some of the cider at this point and stir into the saute process with the onion mix.  It helps with the carmelization step, plus it smells heavenly!  Add the browned beef chunks back into the pot and toss with the Worcestershire sauce.  Salt and pepper to your liking- I prefer the fresh ground because it just tastes better.  Scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen up the cooked-on meat and onion scrapings- they add a lot of richness to the stew. Toss in the flour with all this goodness, until well coated; take off the burner.  Make your beef base with the 3 cups of warm water and stir into the pot.  Season with the Thyme and add the Bay leaf.  Pour in the rest of your cup of cider, and add the chunked celery and carrots.  Don't add the potatoes until the last hour of baking.  Stir and cover with dutch oven lid and place into a 350 degree oven and bake for 3-4 hours. 
During the last hour, carefully open the dutch oven lid and check the gravy amount. You might have to add a bit more water if it is absorbed out, but be careful because you want your stew to be thick. (You could add some more cider, but you need to taste it to see if the sweetness is to your liking).  Carefully stir in the additional liquid if needed, so as not to break up too much of the stew beef or carrots.  Also add the potatoes at this point and return the pot back into the oven for the last hour.  Remove the bay leaf and serve this gorgeous stew in some fun bowls with a crusty slice of french bread.  Then sit down, put your feet up and enjoy this heart-warming bit of heaven.                     Guaranteed to satisfy! 

We start 'em young...she has good taste!

My daughter was out shooting some pictures for our website, and my granddaughter grabbed onto one of our smaller bottles and carried it around all over with her!  She loves our cider- it's her favorite drink...next to lemonade that is!

Apple Cider Microwave Caramels

Oh my goodness...did I say yummy?!  With Halloween just getting over, and holiday baking on my mind, I just had to try my hand at making some caramels!  They just say holiday...right?!  This recipe is so easy and versatile...cover some crunchy apples with it; stir it in with some cream cheese for a dip for apples; make it a drizzle over ice cream or cheesecake; or...the sky's the limit! Prepare yourself...you're gonna love it!
Apple Cider Microwave Caramels
1 cup butter
2 1/4 cup brown sugar
(1) 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup reduced apple cider (I reduced about 3/4 of a bottle down to 1/2 cup -it becomes pretty thick and
   sticky.  Watch so it doesn't burn- your heat should be medium low)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Melt the butter in a large microwave safe bowl.  Add brown sugar, sweetened condensed milk and corn syrup; stir well.  Microwave for 16-20 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes.  Add vanilla and mix well.  Pour it into a buttered 13x9 pan.  Chill until set.  Cut and wrap the caramels in wax paper - then hide them cuz you're gonna eat them all before anyone comes home!

Grilled Chicken Penne al Fresco

I decided to dabble around with mixing our cider in with pasta...and the drum roll please...I loved it!  In fact, it really enhanced the flavor very nicely -I thought it blended well with the chicken broth!  I'm not an everyday kind of pasta lover, but penne has just the right amount of body to it to make it a heartier meal.  This recipe doesn't have the heavy Alfredo base, it was just light and nice.  I think you'll enjoy it.  Really try and get fresh basil if you can.  I went and bought a plant to put in my kitchen window, cuz I love it so much in my cooking!
So here's the recipe:
Grilled Chicken Penne al Fresco
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups grape tomatoes
3 cups uncooked penne pasta
3 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup apple cider (I used Classic Sweet - Dry would be really good too!)
1/2 tsp. (each) of salt and pepper
1 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves, sliced in small strips; or 1 Tbl. dried
1 oz. grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups diced, grilled, chicken breasts
red pepper flakes to taste
In a large, deep skillet pour in 2 tsp. olive oil and stir fry the tomatoes.  Once they begin to burst, stir in the minced garlic and stir 1 minute more until it becomes fragrant.  Remove from the heat and chop the tomatoes coarsely.  In the same skillet, add the pasta, broth, cider, salt and pepper.  Cover and simmer until the pasta is tender and has absorbed most of the liquid; approximately 10 minutes.  Meanwhile chop the basil and stir it in with the pasta along with the Parmesan cheese.  Add the grilled chicken.  Season with salt and pepper and toss in some red pepper flakes to your liking.  I always love to add a bit of pizazz- just enough to cause some interest!  Then sit down with your favorite crunchy french bread and a great green salad. Now, that's what I call a great meal!

Curried Butternut Squash Bisque

I couldn't resist, so I dove into trying out another soup recipe for you!  If you love curry, and you love squash, you'll really like this soup because it adds the best of both worlds! 
My daughter cooks a lot of authentic Asian dishes, and she mixed up some amazing Red Curry for me to try out with recipes.  Well, I get weak in the knees for Red Curry dishes, so I just had to do some more experimenting with our cider!  Now the bottled "store bought" Red Curry works fine, but if you want an amazing awakening to your taste buds, try your hand at making homemade- it truly is far superior to the stuff on the grocery shelf!  Anyway, my creative cooking thoughts started into play and I began thinking of ways I could use one of my favorite fall treats...butternut squash.  Pumpkin bars & pumpkin roll immediately jumped into my mind, but I couldn't resist creating something new and different!  I decided to try out a Squash Bisque and dabble using it with our cider.  The finished product was superb...so here it is for you-  I hope you like it!
Curried Butternut Squash Bisque
(2) 2 lb. butternut squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
2 tsp. olive oil
2 Tbl. butter
1 cup finely chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped and peeled apple
1-2 tsp. Thai red curry paste (no more than 2 tsp. or it will be too strong)
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup Dry Cider
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup whipping cream or half-n-half
6 Tbl. sour cream
Chopped fresh cilantro
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and brush the cut side of your cleaned squash with olive oil.  Place squash, cut side down, on baking sheet and roast until tender, about and hour.  (test with a fork to see if it slides in easily)  Cool slightly and then scoop into a large bowl.  Measure out 3 cups squash, and reserve the rest for some yummy pumpkin bars for dessert!  Melt your butter in a large pot on medium-high heat.  Add onion, carrots and apple; saute for 5 minutes.  Add your delightful curry paste and stir for 2 minutes until well blended.  Add the chicken broth, bay leaves and the 3 cups of squash.  Bring to a boil and then reduce and simmer uncovered for an hour.  Remember to discard the bay leaves before you go onto the next step.  If you are lucky enough to own a wonderful  Blendtec or Vitamix, you'll be pureeing the soup in the blender until smooth- be careful because the soup is hot!  Return back to the pot and stir in the cream.  Season with salt and pepper.  Re-warm over medium heat til heated through.  Divide soup among 8 bowls and drizzle with sour cream; garnish with cilantro.  Be prepared to be delighted!

Zuppa Toscana

Doesn't a good, rich, hot soup sound good when the weather turns colder?  I thought so too, so I wanted to try out some recipes using our cider in the recipe.  We're not wine drinkers, so I was very interested in figuring if our ciders would work in a recipe.  I've found that it was an easy trade-off, and they didn't alter the taste at all...in fact, they enhanced it!  You have to be careful to not add too much, because of the sweetness of the cider, but as a whole, the exchange works quite well.  In my experimenting, our Cherry Cider compliments well with beef recipes, Classic Sweet with pork or chicken, and our Dry with pasta. 
So I experimented with a tried and true recipe that we all love from the Olive Garden- Zuppa Toscana.  Now mind you, this is a copycat recipe, but the flavor is still amazing!
Zuppa Toscana
1 lb. spicy Italian sausage
1 large onion, chopped fine
4 cloves of garlic, minced
3/4 cup Dry Cider
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
3 medium to large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
2 cups fresh Kale, finely chopped
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1 cup fat free half-n-half (doesn't seem possible, but it is fat free!)
Salt and Pepper to taste
In a large stock pot or Dutch oven, crumble up the sausage and cook until well browned.  Remove sausage from the pan and set aside in a bowl.  Add the chopped onion to the pan and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.  Add the garlic and red pepper flakes to the cooked onion and cook for a minute more.  Stir in the cider, and at this point, I like to loosen the browned bits stuck on the bottom- it really adds to the flavor!  Return the sausage back to the pot, as well as the potatoes, kale, chicken broth and water.  Increase your heat to medium high for a short time til it boils, then reduce it down to medium-low and let it simmer for about 20 minutes until the potatoes are tender.  Stir in the half-n-half and salt and pepper to taste.         Serve & enjoy!
Have some fun experimenting...I think you'll find that cider will become a favorite adage to your dishes!

Baked Apple Dumplings

Well, I tried the Baked Apple Dumplings and they proved to be as yummy as I had hoped!  These weren't the 9x13 scoop-out-of-the-pan kind.  They were individual, delectable, single-serve-melt-in-your-mouth-kind with a delicate pastry crust surrounding the apple; and it was worth all the time it took to make them! 
I wanted to wait until our Jonagolds were ready to harvest...just cuz I love 'em!  I peeled each one and cut it across the center at the widest part, and scooped out the core taking care not to pierce the bottom- cuz you need that to hold all the yummy goodness! A melon baller works great for this process.  Then you pack 'em, wrap 'em and bake 'em.  When they are all done baking and you pull them out, you'll just be amazed at how beautiful these piping hot little beauties are! Top off each one with your special cider sauce, and then for extra goodness, drop a scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream right beside it.  Find yourself a easy chair, and then sit down and enjoy!
The recipe:
Dough:
2 1/2 cups flour
3 Tbl. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/4 sticks of butter, cut into 1/2 in. pieces and chilled
5 Tbl. shortening
1/4 - 1/2 cup cold buttermilk
Mix together well the dry ingredients, then "work in" the butter and shortening until it resembles course cornmeal.  If you have a food processor, set it on "pulse" until it resembles that texture.  Transfer to a bowl and stir in buttermilk until the dough forms.  Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly until the dough is soft and pliable.  Set aside.
Apple Filling:
6 Tbl. sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 Tbl. butter, softened
3 Tbl. golden raisins
4 Jonagold or Honey Crisp apples
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
Heat the oven to 425 degrees and set your oven rack to the middle.  Combine sugar and cinnamon and set aside.  In another bowl combine the butter and raisins and 3 Tbl. of the cinnamon/sugar mixture.  Pack the hole you've prepared in each apple half with the butter mixture.  Roll part of the dough out into a 12 inch square, and then divide into a 6 inch square.  Lightly brush each 6 inch square with some egg white and place each stuffed apple into the center.  Gather up each side of the dough, one corner at a time, to the top of the apple and crimp the edges together to seal.  Cut a vent hole in the top with a knife, brush with egg white, and sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar.  
Line a baking sheet with some parchment paper (wax paper won't work- someone tried that once...what a mess!), and place an apple dumpling on top.  You should have 8 cute little dumplings.  Bake in the oven for 40 minutes or so, until golden brown. While they're cooking, you need to make the cider sauce!  Cool your little dumplings on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes, then pour your cider sauce over the top and serve with vanilla ice cream.  You might even want some of that scrumptous sauce drizzled over the ice cream too!  I'm sure you'll enjoy!  Serves 8.
Cider Sauce (makes about 1 1/2 cups)                                                                          In a saucepan on medium heat, reduce down 2 cups of apple cider with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, until thickened - it takes approximately 15 minutes to reduce it to 1 1/2 cups. Take off the heat and wisk in 2 Tbl. butter and 1 tsp. lemon juice.  Keep warm, and drizzle over slightly cooled dumplings. 

Today we're pressing our first batch of Harvest Crush, our award-winning grape-apple blend.  Check out our facebook page to enter to win a bottle of this new batch.

Our beginnings

I have taken it upon myself to begin writing blog posts about our incredible cider operation and include recipes using our cider that I thought you'd enjoy.  Our husbands wouldn't be caught dead writing a blog, so the women of Sheffield Cider have taken it upon themselves to begin this- so you could get a bird's eye perspective of our "down on the farm" events with our cider business.  Hopefully I can make this entertaining, as well as informative.        
About this time every year when the weather starts to change and the leaves are falling, you begin indulging in thoughts of hay rides, fresh juicy apples picked right off the tree, hot spiced cider, carved pumpkins...a Martha Stewart kind of scene, right?  Livin' out in the country has it's distinct advantages with affording you moments to enjoy the beauty around you and the quiet peaceful sounds that is so part of the country life.

We started our cider business some eight years ago when we began our venture growing specialized heirloom apples- with a penchant for developing sparkling cider.  It has been quite an adventure tweaking the science of the thing to come up with the right recipes for this cider.  I have a new-found appreciation and respect for what our husbands do because it has been exhausting work, but the final product is amazing! We've included some pictures for you of a cider squeezing so you can get an idea of what it's like here.   
I also want to include a kick off recipe, which will be forth-coming, because I'm waiting on our Jonagold apples to be ready.  I've always had a hankerin' to make fresh baked Apple Dumplings using our cider with a hot glaze over the top...yum!  I'm thinking you'll enjoy it!  I will be getting back to you with a recipe in a few days!

Keep Calm Craze

With all these "Keep Calm" posters out on the web, we felt a little out of touch until we made our own.  Here they are for your own enjoyment.

Our First Press of 2011!

We are excited to announce that we pressed our first batch of Cider today! We are pressing Vintage Dry and are using some unique apple varieties including Hugh's Crab and Black twig.  The flavor is fabulous and we are so excited to get it bottle!