Frog Legs: Sauteed with Tomato Garlic Butter

We've had two packages of frog legs in the freezer waiting for a special occasion. Dave and Bonnie Kenison were staying with us and Andrew came home for the weekend, so it was a perfect time to do them. The recipe is from Emeril Lagasse. The two packages were a combined 1.8 pounds. The recipe called for one pound, so I doubled it. Below, the packaged frog legs.

First, I made Emeril's Essence Creole Seasoning. It was 2 1/2 tbs. of paprika, 2 tbs. salt, 2 tbs. garlic powder, 1 tbs. black pepper, 1 tbs. onion powder (which we didn't have, so I used shallot salt), 1 tbs. cayenne pepper, 1 tbs. dried oregano and 1 tbs. dried thyme (we only had ground thyme, so I used 1/4 tbs. instead). Once this was made, we used 1 tbs. (doubled to 2 tbs. for our doubled batch).

I've never dealt with frog legs before, so I wasn't quite sure what it mean't when the directions said to cut the frog legs in half. However, as you can see, Andrew is holding a pair of frog legs and the legs are still connected.

Here is the full 1.8 pounds of connected frog legs.

Then I cut them at the joint so that each leg was separate.

I combined most of the 2 tbs. Essence Creole Seasoning into 2 cups of flower and coated the frog legs with it, also putting a little of the seasoning directly on the frog legs. I put a 1/2 cup of butter (1 cube) into a frying pan on medium heat and started to cook the coated frog legs.

After 2 to 3 minutes, we turned them over and cooked them another 2 or 3 minutes on the other side.

Then we added 1/2 cup of cut up leeks (it was supposed to be shallots) and 2 tbs. of minced garlic.

After about 1 minute, we added a cup of chopped fresh tomatoes and cooked it for a minute.

Then we added a cup of white grape juice (substituting it for dry white wine) and simmered it for about 2 minutes and then served it. It looked really outstanding. However, the taste was a bit of a disappointment. The frog legs were not as flavorful as we expected, given all of the ingredients. They were still a little bland. It was good, but not great, but very fun as a conversation piece and activity.

We ate it all. The frog legs are easy to debone. They are large enough to handle and the meat came easily off the bone.

I've had frog legs before at Lambert's in Missouri, at a private catered party and at least one other place I don't recall. I've liked them better at those places. However, I'll try them again some time and hope to improve upon my first attempt.