Recipes

Ingredients:
400g Chestnut Mushrooms, 25g Butter, 150g Sweet potato, 1 Large onion, 750ml Veg stock, 250ml Kingston Black Cider (the other half for you to enjoy)100ml Double Cream, 75g Barkham Blue Cheese, 2 cloves of garlic crushed. fresh parsley to garnish.

Method:
Melt the butter in a large pan on a medium heat.
Dice the sweet potato and onion into small cubes, add into pan with crushed garlic, cook for 15 minutes on a low heat.
Slice the mushrooms add to the pan and cook for another 5 minutes.
Add the vegetable stock, cider and seasoning, simmer for 15 minutes.
Blend the soup until smooth.
Add the cream and cut up Barkham Blue, simmer for 5 minutes.
Serve with some fresh parsley on the top.

Ingredients:
1kg fresh mussels,1 tbsp olive oil,1 garlic clove, finely chopped, 3 leeks, trimmed and sliced, 500ml cider (we recommend Sheppy's Vintage Reserve Cider), 250g tagliatelle, 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard, 2 tbsp chopped fresh flat leaf parsley.

Method:
Wash the mussels under cold running water, removing any beards by pulling them sharply off the shells. Discard any broken mussels, or any that don’t close when tapped. Set aside.
Heat the oil in a large lidded saucepan over a medium heat and add the garlic and leeks. Cook for 3-4 mins, stirring occasionally, until softened. Pour in the cider, season and bring to the boil. Add the pasta and cook for 5 mins.
Stir in the mustard, then tip in the mussels, cover and cook for 5 mins, shaking the pan occasionally. Discard any mussels that haven’t opened. Scatter over the parsley to serve.

Ingredients:
50g each sultanas and raisins, 6 tbsp Sheppy's sweet Farmhouse cider, 215g plain flour, 15g corn flour, 1½ tsp baking powder, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground cloves, ¼ tsp ground ginger, ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg, 300g golden caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling, 175g butter, softened, 2 medium free-range eggs, 750g eating apples (about 6), peeled, cored and cut into 1cm pieces, 100g lightly toasted walnuts, broken into small pieces.

Method:
1) Cover sultanas and raisins into a small bowl with 3 tbsp of cider and set aside for at least 2 hours or overnight. 2) Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/ gas 4. Grease and line a 23cm round, loose-bottomed cake tin. 3) Sift the flour, cornflour, baking powder, salt and ground/grated spices into the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar and butter and beat until well mixed. 4) Add the eggs and beat. Beat in the remaining 3 tbsp cider. 5) Fold in the prepared apples, sultanas/raisins and walnuts. Add the mixture into the prepared tin and gently level the surface. 6) Bake for 1 hour 25 minutes, covering loosely with foil or a double sheet of baking paper once it’s richly browned on top, until it is firm to the touch. Sprinkle with caster sugar and serve to finish.

Ingredients:

60g butter, 60g plain flour, 250ml Sheppy’s Craft Perry cider, 250ml milk, 1 tbsp mustard, ½ lemon, juiced, 2 tbsp cream, 3 leeks, sliced, 1 large apple, peeled and sliced, 500g cooked chicken, cubed, 50g sage cheddar, grated – yes, it is bright green! (Alternatively use mature cheddar), 800g Shortcrust pastry, Salt and black pepper, 1 egg whisked

Method:

To create the sauce, melt half the butter in a pan with the flour. Stir this over a medium-low heat for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and start adding the cider a little at a time, mix well with a wooden spoon. Keep stirring until all the cider has been added, then add the milk in the same way. Add salt and pepper and return to the heat to bring to the boil. The mixture will start to thicken. Once it is boiling, reduce the heat and simmer for about 3 minutes. Stir in the mustard, lemon juice and cream then taste for seasoning and put to the side.

Melt the other half of the butter in a pan and fry the leeks and the apples for 5 minutes. Add 2 tbsp of water, salt and pepper. Cover and cook over a low heat for 8-10 minutes until tender. Take the lid off and increase the heat to reduce any juice.

Add half the cheese to the sauce, then bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and stir in the leeks and apples. Remove from the heat and cool the sauce until you’re ready to assemble the pie. Just before assembling, stir the chicken into the sauce.

Grease the base and sides of a 25 x 20cm tin. On a floured surface, roll out half the pastry to the thickness of 5mm. Put into the tin, making sure it covers the base and sides. Add the chicken mixture on top of the pastry. Add the rest of the cheese to the top. Roll out the other half of the pastry to the thickness of 5mm. Add the pastry as a lid. Crimp the edges and use the remaining pastry to decorate. Make three small cuts in the top to let out steam.  Brush the top with the egg mixture.

Bake in the oven for 30 - 40 mins, until the pastry is a deep golden colour. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.