Exciting dinning!

Remember the person who first tasted the oyster?  What would our world be like if all we consumed was what we were taught and what our mothers made?  Sure we would still have a great diversification of foods culturally and geographically, but we would not break our bounds, there would be no color to our pallet, culinary epiphanies, shock and amaze to our taste buds.

I write this today from the stand point of a person who grew up in a fantastic home were typical "American" food fare coincided with the culinary diversity of my Hispanic heritage.  Sure we had our household staples: Frito pies, tamales, cheeseburgers, BBQ chicken, orange roughy, etc.  On the other hand, I did have something unique my grandfather and I enjoyed together: sardines! 

Now, as I think back to my childhood, I was never as pick an eater as my little sister.  My tastes for less conventional foods began early when my family looked at me with horror and forced my grandfather and I to eat our stinky oily sardines in the garage, LOL.  This taste for diversity was further cultivated when my parents turned me on to escargot, or snails cooked in butter and garlic.  When this happened I became aware that, properly prepared, even a garden pest can be magical to the taste buds. 

OK, enough background, lets get to the good stuff.  During one of my recent trips to Uajimaya, the local Asian market, I came across a long time interest of mine, frog legs.  Mind you, these were not the little legs of an African Dwarf frog size creature I raised growing up, (R.I.P Ace).  These things were roughly the size of turkey wings.  Clearly the had been doing their hamstring curls and dead lifts, hehe.
Frog legs, contrary to popular belief do not taste like chicken.  OK, maybe a tiny bit, but in reality, they more closely resemble cod fish with a certain quality of snow crab meat.  A tender sweetness that you could mistake for shellfish.  When sauteed, which is a very common method of preparation, the meat melts off the bone much like tender chicken wings. 

The Goods:
(Serves 2 people)
-4 pairs frog legs, skin removed
-2 minced cloves garlic
-salt and pepper to taste
-1 Tbs. good extra virgin olive oil
-t tsp. butter (Added to the oil to assist in preventing the oil from burning)

The Execution:
-Bring your saute pan to heat with the oil and butter.
-Lightly saute your garlic until it begins to become aromatic.  There is nothing worse or more destructive to a dish than over cooked or burned garlic with it's bitter taste.
-Add the frog legs to the saute pan and cook turning over every 2 minutes.  Since these are small bits of meat they will cook fast like fish.
-Remove from pan and serve immediately.

Yes friends and foodies, it is that simple.  i like to have frog legs served atop a spinach salad with diced boiled egg, dried cranberries, slivered almonds and cooked bacon bits (Not that imitation crap in the dried foods aisle).

Honestly, you would never suspect these to be the get-away sticks of an amphibian unless they were served to you looking like a little sauteed pair of pants.  Give it a shot, I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

Thanks for reading and wishing you best eating,
Bon Appétit