The first time I ever tasted buffalo meat was at the Huisache Grill in New Braufels, TX. Robert and I were there on a date that my sweet sister treated us to on a trip to Texas a few years back. I asked the waiter to ask the chef for a gluten free entree suggestion and he suggested the chopped bison steak and garlic mashed potatoes. It was SO GOOD. And bison meat is comparably better for you than many other animal proteins. Check out some of those stats here.

Currently, I live just down the road from a bison farm, and I can hardly drive by without thinking about that delicious steak. Fortunately, (or dangerously) I also live right down the road from Whole Foods, and they happen to carry ground buffalo meat. So, combine all of those serendipitous occurrences with the fact that my current cookbook fascination (Goat Cheese by Maggie Foard) featured a recipe for bison burgers with, you guessed it..goat cheese, and you get, well…..this blog post and the inspiration for a meal we had last week. Two of my favorite food items: bison + goat cheese, plus another favorite – sweet potatoes! Yum.

Robert cooked the burgers on the grill, and they turned out delicious. He’s becoming quite the grill chef – even perfecting veggies, fish, and pineapple.

The cookbook suggested baking the sweet potato fries, but mine always turn out mushy done that way, so I decided to fry them. Kory’s birthday was this week, and he requested homemade french fries, so I got the “opportunity” to perfect the homemade fry with this second round. From my experience, the cast iron skillet did not work as well as the large stainless skillet. Don’t know if the oil didn’t get as hot as quickly or what, but Kory’s b-day fries turned out really nice, with the perfect crispy outside, soft inside texture. (I made both sweet potato and regular potato fries for the birthday.)
The fries are pretty simple – just sweet potatoes sliced in large matchsticks, canola oil for frying, and salt to taste after draining on paper towels.

Here’s the recipe for the burgers:

1 1/2 lbs ground buffalo meat
4 oz. goat feta
1/4 cup minced shallots
salt and pepper
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp fresh thyme

Saute shallots and thyme in olive oil until tender. Place buffalo meat in large bowl and add sauteed thyme, shallots, goat feta, and salt and pepper. Work ingredients through the ground meat and then shape into patties. Grill to desired done-ness. Serve on buns with lettuce, tomato, mayo, and spicy mustard. Add sweet potato fries on the side and enjoy.