Recipe

Recipe: Nage - Frog Legs à la Meunière

20.08.2024 · Lorenz Verstraete

The restaurant

A stone's throw from Central Station, Niki and Koen have set up shop in a former printing house, now an elegant restaurant with high ceilings and wooden beams. At the helm is chef Koen, whose French-modern cuisine is refined and at times original, but where it is above all the natural flavours that speak for themselves. For example, he ages turbot for a week before roasting the fish over an open fire and combining it with grelot onions cooked in red wine, shiitake with a hint of cream, a Robuchon purée, and a refined sauce of fumet and smoked eel. Hostess Niki excels in her knowledge of natural wines, which further accentuate the chef's creations. The spots at the counter by the large wood-fired oven are definitely worth experiencing.

The recipe

Preparation

Separate the frog legs from the backbone, right at the hip joint. Pat them dry with a towel: this step is crucial for crispy fried frog legs.

Lightly salt them with fine salt, coat them in flour, and place them on a tray.

Separate the red romaine lettuce leaves and wash in fresh water. Drain well.

Frying

Heat a non-stick pan over high heat and add sunflower oil. Briefly fry the frog legs until the flour has set on the calves, and lightly salt them again.

Add the butter and let it turn into beurre noisette over medium heat. Continue frying the legs for 1 to 1.5 minutes in the beurre noisette until just cooked through.

Season with garlic and licorice powder and very lightly salt again. Let rest in the pan for 30 seconds.

Finishing

Meanwhile, toss the red romaine lettuce in olive oil and red wine vinegar, and season very lightly with salt.

Arrange the pata negra among the red romaine lettuce and present this naturally on the top of the plate.

Arrange the frog legs on the bottom of the plate. Season the butter with a drop of lemon, to taste.

Generously pour the seasoned butter over the frog legs.

Ingredients

For 4 people

Frog legs

12 pairs of frog legs
150 g pastry flour
1 tbsp dried garlic
½ tbsp liquorice powder
120 g unsalted butter, cubed
1 lemon
fine salt

Garnish

1 oak leaf lettuce
12 slices of Pata Negra
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar

The pairing

Frogs' legs in beurre noisette might seem to call for something richer at first glance, but it's precisely the crispness of this Stockwerk that makes the pairing work. The wine's firm acidity and the minerality from the chalk and loess soils in Kremstal cut right through the nutty butter, ensuring that each bite feels as fresh as the first. Where it truly becomes surprising is with the seasoning: the peppery note so characteristic of Grüner Veltliner seamlessly connects with the liquorice powder and dried garlic, as if they were made for each other. The saltiness of the pata negra also effortlessly complements this wine. And because we're dealing with an appetizer here, everything remains light and lively.