We’re working our way through the last of our CSA share. The yellow puree is “Sweet Dumpling Winter Squash” and the potatoes are I think “German Butterball”.

Justine Denison was right, the squash were the best of all winter squash!

The chicken was stuffed with sauteed spinach and sauteed.

I thought I had a week to prepare. I was going to make brunch completely out of Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Cookbook. Then it happened. The phone rang, and I was off to my office in CT for 3 days of server surgery.

Low and behold I’m at the grocery store at 10pm the night before the brunch, with a toned down menu, which still included two of Keller’s recipes. I was going to cook his Potato Leek Soup and his Quiche Lorraine. If you look closely, something’s missing on the table..

I surrounded the soup with a Lox spread, an italian cheese and sausage board, some grapes, a curried chicken salad, some cold cuts, and rolls and bagels.

More on the missing quiche in a bit..

The Albany Society for the Advancement of Philanthropy is holding its second annual Meatfest this Saturday.  It was a great time last year, and we are excited to be doing this fund raiser again.

More info about ASAP after the jump..

The Albany Society for the Advancement of Philanthropy (ASAP for short ID #20-3800708/501 (c) 3 pending) was founded in August of 2004 by nine young professionals, and has since grown to over 50 members.  The group was started as a way to give back to the Albany area in a way that was enjoyable for all involved; to encourage philanthropy and have a good time while doing so.

ASAP is not dedicated to any specific philanthropic endeavor.  In just under five years of existence ASAP has helped raise funds for the American Stroke Foundation, has donated goods to the Christian shelter of Albany, has thrice sponsored an American Little League of Albany Team, and has sent marathoners across the country to participate in events supporting breast cancer and leukemia. We’ve also raised over $15,000 for the Albany Damien Center.

1 Pint Whole peaches, quartered (I used 5)
1/2 Cup Simple Syrup
Juice of 1 lemon

1. Puree
2. Pour into ice cream maker for 25 minutes.
3. Enjoy!

The only good thing about spending a week on the road is that by getting out of the capital region, I can shop at some higher end stores that aren’t available here. Case in point, the Whole Foods in Hadley, MA.

I picked up some goodies including, a nice piece of Chilean Sea Bass (half of it is pictured here), some cheese (Robusto and a fresh pecorino), 2 dry aged strip steaks, and a bunch of short ribs.

Pictured here is a dijon encrusted sea bass, pan fried. It is sitting on top of some curried lentils and next to some boiled beans. The plate was speckled with some 25 year old balsamic vinegar, mostly for the green beans.

A mix of local ingredients. The tomatoes are from my companies commercial greenhouse operation. Not organic, but they were still pretty tasty. The cucumbers, parsley, and potatoes came from Denison Farm. The Grouper from The Cousins Fish Market in Albany. More on Cousins in another post.

This week we received,
* 3 Cucumbers
* 3 Zucchinis
* 1 Summer Squash
* 1 Bunch of Beets with Greens
* 1 Head of Kale
* 1 Bunch of Parsley
* 1 Bag of Spinach
* 1 Bag of Sugar Snap Peas

On another subject,  I played with some new ingredients last night.  I used extra firm tofu and rice noodles for the first time.  I made my take on Pad Thai.  I could not commit to the tofu, and used some shrimp from the freezer as well.  The tofu was pretty tasty though.

I’ll have to work on a recipe..

Well, it’s been a busy week. We haven’t been at home for dinner for a while, and when the idea of a dinner cruise on our boat was sprung, we jumped at it. Dinner consisted of pizza from I Love NY (the real one) and a bag of Sugar Snap Peas from The Denison Farm, C.S.A.

Also in this week’s share
* Braising Greens
* a bag of Broccoli Crowns
* 2 Summer Squash
* 1 Cucumber
* a bag of Spinach
* a bunch of Basil
* 1 head of lettuce

I’m starting to get nervous. The quantity of veggies is growing. The summer should be interesting.

More veggies (Arugala and the rest of the fried zucchini that were ’snacks’. from The Denison Farm, and pork from Rolf’s in Albany. The rice, is Rice O Roni spanish rice.

I should probably start making my own Rice O Roni. I’d assume I can get vermacelli at Albany CoOp or Whole Foods..