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 Buffalo Burger

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. 

They were picked the morning that I got them. So fresh and tasty.

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.

Lay them out so that they are not on top of each other.

Next finely dice up the garlic and the shallots.

Dice them up as finely as you can.

Grab the thyme and pull it off the stems.  You can roughly cut it up if you wish.

Fresh from my herb garden. Yep, it finally grew.

Drizzle the olive oil over the peas.  Then spread the shallots, garlic and thyme over everything. 

Try to get every pea covered.

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.

They are bright and green. So fresh tasting. I recommend picking them up when they are in season.

Grilled Buffalo Burgers

Form the ground buffalo meat into patties.  Then season the burgers with salt and pepper on each side.

Seasoned and on the grill

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).

As you can see I did not get a chance to let my grill fully heat up. Didn't quite get the sear marks that I was looking for. In my defense, it started to rain.

After you flip the burgers wait (3-4 mins for medium/ 5-6 for well) and then cover with cheese.

I love pepperjack

Remove and serve on a toasty bun or in my case a nice slice of french bread.

I toasted the french bread which was an extremely bad idea. It got tough and since it already had a hard crust, it was almost too tough to eat. If you get french bread don't toast it.

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. 

The peas wanted a close up

Fresh and local does not have to be expensive.  Just visit your local Farmers Market.