Frogs legs, ham 'n beans, and fish roe

We bought a pound of frogs' legs for a whopping $8.50. My wife wanted to cook them adobo style, but I thought, for that price, let's try something different.

So I dug up a Provencal recipe: season legs with salt and pepper, dredge with flour, then cooked in half a pound of butter on medium heat. The recipe said 3 to four minutes per side, but these legs were Schwarzenegger huge (only four pairs made up the pound); it took around six minutes at least to brown them. Sprinkle with minced garlic and chopped parsley, cook thirty seconds more, then serve.

Delicately flavored frog meat in a rich garlic-and-parsley sauce, with hot, steaming rice. Not bad, especially when you drip the butter sauce over the rice.

As backup (we didn't think the four pairs of legs was enough), I tossed lima beans in cold water to boil, chopped in some leftover country ham, and left it there to simmer till thick. Simpler to make than eat, and the ham-flavored beans (didn't need to even add salt) and tasty thick soup were wonderful with a chunk of hot French baguette.

And, finally, we found a good fish store. Not very large, and not a wide variety, but they have oysters, shrimps, and several kinds of fish, fresh and cheaper than in Walmart. We picked some fish fat with roe, had them scaled and cleaned, and fried the roe in butter till golden crisp. Also excellent with hot steamed rice.

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