The Apollo Balsamic vinegar is a real one-of-a-kind, artisanal product based on a delicious Late Harvest Riesling made by Diana in 1984, and aged in the winery cellar for the past 35 years. Through a unique process of reduction and acidification, we are able to produce about 600 bottles of Balsamic annually – for a few more years, anyway… Unlike most balsamics on the market, the Apollo Balsamic has the complex age-carmelized grape sweetness with a hint of oak barrel aging, and just the right amount of vinegar acidity to balance those concentrated flavors. Like authentic Italian balsamics, the Apollo Balsamic is best used sparingly as a condiment to enrich various dishes – such as fresh strawberries, salad greens, steak, cooked vegetables, or even ice cream.
Yearly Archives: 2019
Manchego Cheese Empanadas with Strawberries & Rosemary
From Albert Bevia:
Spain is famously known for their empanadas and these Manchego Cheese Empanadas with Strawberries & Rosemary have to be one of the best ones ever. These empanadas are sweet & savory and they have an incredible combination of flavors. This recipe is super easy to make, uses minimal ingredients and the empanadas are done in about 30 minutes from start to finish. Perfect for a tapas party or serve next to a salad for a complete meal. For this recipe I used premade store bought pizza dough, just to make things easier.
Watch Albert preparing this recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvlgBRhtfbE&t=12s
Ingredients
- 1 premade pizza dough
- 1 block manchego cheese
- 6 fresh strawberries
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
- pinch sea salt
- pinch black pepper
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Wash and pat dry 6 fresh strawberries, cut the end off each strawberry, then cut each one in half, cut each half in half and roughly chop it, add the cut strawberries into a large bowl
- Wash and pat dry 1 large sprig of rosemary, remove the needles from the stem and roughly chop the rosemary needles, add them into the bowl with the strawberries
- Season everything with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, mix together until well combined and set aside
- Thinly slice about a 1/4 block of queso Manchego, remove the rind and cut each slice into 4 pieces
- Roll out one premade pizza dough, using a circular cutter (mine was 3 1/2 inches in diameter) cut out some small circles of dough from the pizza dough, you should end up with about 6
- Sprinkle some all-purpose flour into a flat surface, dust each circle of dough on the flour, add a couple pieces of the Manchego cheese to each dough and then some of the strawberry mixture (about 2 tbsp), fold each dough together and using a fork pierce the outer edges on both sides to ensure all the ingredients stay inside (don´t over-stuff your empanadas otherwise they will explode while baking)
- Add the empanadas to a baking tray lined with parchment paper and brush each one with some extra virgin olive oil, add into a preheated oven, bake + broil option 210 C -410 F, after 15 to 16 minutes remove from the oven and let them rest for 5 minutes, enjoy!
Bottles
As some of you may have already noticed, some of our bottles look a little different lately. Unfortunately, our bottle supplier has unexpectedly run out of stock, and the next production of our distinctive bottles in Italy isn’t scheduled until October. We had to find a different bottle to use in the meantime until our shipment arrives in November. This bottle lacks the beautiful curves, but has the same opaque label and easy pour spout.
Come for a Tour of Apollo’s Orchards and Mill
This past weekend, we enjoyed hosting a wonderful group in a customized tour of our orchards and
mill, with a little tasting of our Miller’s Favorite oil and our popular Balsamic. It was a wonderful experience to share our values and methods of producing raw, organic, award-winning oils with the highest polyphenol counts you can find. This picture of Gianni explaining the uniqueness of our mill was attached to a ‘thank you’ email sent by one of the tour group. Whenever you or your friends plan to be in our area, please do consider calling Gianni at 530-692-1562 to arrange a tour.
Spring Salad with Goat Cheese and Strawberries
Recipe Corner
From Albert Bevia:
Spring has sprung! To celebrate the season we´re making a Spring Salad with Goat Cheese and Strawberries. This is the kind of salad you order at a restaurant, pay big bucks and it leaves you in 7th heaven. Here is the thing, you can make this salad at home for much cheaper and it´s effortless to put together. This salad is loaded with different flavors and textures, it´s sweet, it´s savory, it´s absolutely delicious. Simple ingredients, easy to make and ready within minutes. Remember to use a high-quality extra virgin olive oil, this is what really brings all the flavors together.
Spring Salad with Goat Cheese and Strawberries
Watch Albert preparing this recipe: https://youtu.be/2KihzWjB7Qg
Ingredients
- handful fresh bagged spinach
- 1/2 red onion
- 5 fresh strawberries
- 2 oz goat cheese
- 8 walnuts
- 2 tbsp unsalted sunflower seeds
- balsamic vinegar glaze
- Sierra extra virgin olive oil
- pinch sea salt
- pinch black pepper
Instructions
- Add a handful of fresh spinach into a shallow bowl, finely dice 1/2 of a red onion and add on top of the spinach, rinse 5 large fresh strawberries under cold water and roughly chop them, add the cut strawberries with the onions and spinach, season everything generously with fine sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- Grab 2 ounces of goat cheese and crumble all over the salad, grab 8 walnuts and crumble all over the salad as well, evenly divide 2 tbsp of sunflower seeds and add a good drizzle of balsamic glaze, top it all off with some Sierra extra virgin olive oil, enjoy!
Introducing Miller’s Favorite
Introducing Miller’s Favorite
This
year we introduced a new offering to our Gold Series category called
Miller’s Favorite. This oil is a traditional Tuscan oil made from the
Frantoio, Leccino, and Moraiolo olives. As the name states this was our
favorite oil this year. It is a robust oil with strong pungency and
medium bitterness. Its fruity overtones include hints of artichoke,
cinnamon, green almond and green tea. Not everybody can taste these
overtones but they add a complexity that make this oil particularly
satisfying that everybody can enjoy. We made a very small batch of this
oil and we will probably run our before December.
One happy customer’s review of the Miller’s Favorite
| The best olive oil in America I’ve sampled countless olive oils from around the world. This and the rest of Apollo’s lineup are the pinnacle of olive oil production. Every attribute about it is perfect. It is green, pungent, and hosts a depth of flavors. It makes the majority of other olive oils taste like seed oil. The only other oil I’ve had that comes close is the oil I sampled from a micro producer in Central Italy using ancient Roman trees. I can say without any reservation that Apollo makes the best olive oil in America. Gordon B. |
Recipe Co
The Authentic Spanish Tortilla de Patatas Potato Omelette
Watch Albert preparing this recipe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9V2A4U55A4
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup Apollo Mistral organic extra virgin olive oil
- 2 large yukon gold potatoes
- 6 large organic eggs
- fine sea salt
- black pepper
Instructions
- Peel 2 large yukon gold potatoes, rinse them under cold running water and pat them completely dry with a dish cloth, cut each potato into 4 evenly sized quarters, then cut each quarter into 3 evenly sized pieces and thinly slice the potatoes, crack 6 large organic eggs into a large bowl, season them with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper and mix together until well combined
- Heat a good quality nonstick fry pan with a medium heat and add 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, after 2 minutes add the slices of potato and mix them around with the olive oil, mix the potatoes occasionally to ensure that they all cook evenly, after 15 minutes season the potatoes with a generous portion of sea salt and a little freshly cracked black pepper, mix together to to ensure all the seasonings are evenly divided, after cooking the potatoes for 25 to 26 minutes they should be perfectly cooked, turn off the heat and transfer the potatoes into the bowl with the beaten eggs and mix together until well combined
- Using the same pan heat it with a LOW heat (very important) and add the egg and potato mixture into the pan, using a spatula run it through the outer edges of the pan to make sure the tortilla does not stick, you can also give the pan a quick shake here and there to ensure it is not sticking, after 4 minutes place a plate that is bigger than the pan over the pan, put one hand over the plate and with the other flip the pan, slide the uncooked part of the tortilla into the pan and cook for another 4 minutes, using a spatula you want to compact the tortilla from the outer edges to give it that classic rounded edge, after a total cooking time of 8 minutes (4 minutes per side) remove the pan from the heat and transfer the tortilla de patatas into a serving dish, enjoy!
Apollo Receives Award of Excellence
We’re
pleased to share the news we received on March 21, 2019:
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS
“Congratulations Apollo Olive Oil has been awarded The Los Angeles International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Award of Excellence given in honor of our 20th Anniversary Celebration. This award is given to producers who have achieved excellence in the production of olive oil and have received a Gold Medal Award or Silver Medal Award in 10 or more Los Angeles International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Competitions.
We are truly grateful to you for your support and want to congratulate you on your dedication and passion to produce high quality oils of outstanding taste, character and complexity. We are honored to have your oils in the Los Angeles International Competition for ten years and more and have done our best to promote and showcase your oils. Apollo Olive Oil has received a Silver Medal or better in all 20 of our competitions – we so appreciate your support.”
Catalan Tomato Bread With Spanish Anchovies
Watch Albert preparing these tapas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TMitAMr5Xg&t=3s
Ingredients
- 1 baguette
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3 ripe tomatoes
- 1/4 cup Apollo ¨Sierra¨ organic extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tin Spanish anchovies
- pinch sea salt
- pinch black pepper
- handful fresh parsley
2018 Oils Are Now Available
Our New Oils Are Available Now
Harvested and milled in December 2018, the new oils are in the bottle and ready early this year. This olive harvest was challenging all over Northern California, with no crop worth picking in many areas. The wide-spread cause seemed to be a late frost that damaged the immature flower buds. Fortunately, most of our hillside orchards escaped the worst, but the harvest costs were significantly higher. Although the price of our oils has been stable for nearly a decade, costs have been steadily increasing for the last 6 years. This year however, we’re compelled to raise the prices 10%. Fortunately, you’ll find that they are still at or below the usual price for high quality, organic extra virgin olive oil.
Even though it was a tough year, we’re thankful that the new oils meet the same excellent quality standard that Apollo is renowned for. In fact, one barrel was so nice, Gianni called it the “Miller’s Favorite” and we added it to the Gold Series. The supplies are very limited, so if you’re interested, be sure to order it early.