Last week I stopped by the Upper King Street Farmers Market after work. To be honest I really didn’t think that it would be that good, but it is right next to work so I went. When I got there I was delightfully surprised. I found a whole meal for four, for under $14.
The Upper King Street Farmers Market in Old Town is open Wednesdays from 3-7 pm. There were probably 15 vendors there, small but this is the beginning of the season. There was a couple local farms with vegetables and produce, a couple bakeries and a farm with buffalo and free range pork. I immediately wanted to get something to put on the grill. When I got over to their table the pork was almost sold out, so I opted for buffalo. They had beautiful 1/4 pound patties ready for the grill. Now that I had meat I needed to find buns for the burgers and a side dish. I walked around and spotted some fresh sugar snap peas that were picked that morning. I was sold. Then I went to the bakeries and none of them had buns. So I opted for a large french loaf. I figured I could cut it into bun size pieces.
Buffalo Burgers
- 1lb ground buffalo meat
- Dash of salt
- Dash of pepper
That is it. The fresh meat speaks for itself. It needs little to no seasoning.
Oven Roasted Sugar Snap Peas – (adapted from allrecipes.com)
- 1 quart of sugar snap peas
- 2 shallots
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- handful of fresh thyme
- 1/2 tsp salt
-
1/4 tsp pepper
Oven Roasted Sugar Snap Peas
I started with the sugar snap peas. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Then wash the peas and snap of the stems.Â
Once washed spread them out on a sheet pan lined with parchment. You don’t have to use parchment, I just find it easier for clean up purposes.
Next finely dice up the garlic and the shallots.
Grab the thyme and pull it off the stems. You can roughly cut it up if you wish.
Drizzle the olive oil over the peas. Then spread the shallots, garlic and thyme over everything.Â
Now season everything with the salt and pepper.
Place the peas in the pre-heated oven and set your timer for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve. They are a great side dish.
Grilled Buffalo Burgers
Form the ground buffalo meat into patties. Then season the burgers with salt and pepper on each side.
Place them directly on a preheated grill (medium/high). Flip when you see the juices starting to bubble through the top of the burger (4-5 mins medium/ 6-7 for well).
After you flip the burgers wait (3-4 mins for medium/ 5-6 for well)Â and then cover with cheese.
Remove and serve on a toasty bun or in my case a nice slice of french bread.
Overall the Upper King Street Farmers Market was awesome. While the vendors were not plentiful the selection was. I ended up with four burgers and enough peas for four people and it cost about $14.Â
Fresh and local does not have to be expensive. Just visit your local Farmers Market.
who is the guy who sells buffalo meat…i want to see if i can order some online. thanks
Danielle – The local farm was called Cibola Farms. They have an online store over at http://www.cibolafarms.com/