Recipe | Beef Cotolette

Tonkatsu, Schnitzel... they seem similar, but different, and just last week I learned something new - Cotolette or Cotoletta, the Italian version. Personally, I still haven't tried cooking Schnitzel, but checking the process for this dish, I think it is a fairly easy one to do. Now, the reason why I called this Cotolette instead of Schnitzel or Tonkatsu is because the process I followed was taken from a YouTube video posted by Pina Cucina and the recipe shared to me by my Italian friend.


I won't be giving the recipe with exact measurements because I pretty much just eye-balled the ingredients. For this you will need -

• Thinly sliced beef
• Dry breadcrumbs
• Egg
• 1-2 Cloves of Garlic
• Italian Parsley
• Parmesan Cheese
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Oil for Frying
• Lemon wedges

What you need to do -

• Pound your beef slices to tenderize it, but don't make it too thin. 
• In a bowl, beat egg, add crushed or finely chopped garlic cloves, a substantial amount of parsley, and enough salt and pepper. Put beef slices in this and coat it with the egg mixture.
• In a separate plate, combine breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese. Coat beef slices with breadcrumbs and shallow fry in a pan until brown, turning once. Serve.

My Italian friend told me they usually sprinkle lemon juice before eating the Cotolette, which I did,  but I personally want mine with a side dip, so I prepared the caper mayo dressing, by combining mayonnaise, chopped capers and onions, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, and salt and pepper to taste.


I served the Cotolette with simple salad (a mix of romaine lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, and cucumbers with Caesar dressing), and it was really, really a good combination. This was the first time I added parmesan cheese into breadcrumbs, and it really did give a different flavor. If you have friends coming by and you want to prepare something simple yet delicious, go ahead and try this one. Although, you must choose your beef well, nobody wants to chew hard, rubbery meat. If beef is not your choice of meat, you may also use chicken breast or pork.

Mangiamo!

Miscellaneous January Food Pics

This week was quite a blah for me, because I had to endure a whole lot of sneezing every day. Worst day was last Thursday, but since yesterday, the sneezing lessened, though I am now experiencing itchiness around my eyes and forehead. I really should be taking anti-histamine, but I don't really like taking meds.

Anyway, I haven't tried any new recipes and we haven't been to any food trips lately, so in an effort to update this blog, I decided to just share some food pictures I have on my phone. Now, most of these weren't plated or composed well; I took these pictures mainly to remember the day by, or to share to my sister who is usually not eating dinner with mom and I.


>>> On the second day of 2016, my sister and I went to Quiapo Church, then to SM Manila after, where had snacks at Starbucks so she could finally claim her 2016 Starbucks Planner. It was my first time to try their Corned Beef Pandesal, and though it tasted like any ordinary pandesal filled with corned beef, but I liked the idea of these three pandesal joined together.

>>> My sister and I bought chicken and requested mom to cook Arroz Caldo for dinner. However, when we got home, mom already cooked something for dinner, but the next day, she surprised us by cooking it for our breakfast. Thank you mommy.

Weekend Eating | Calatagan Getaway

It is true, where mom goes, I usually go. And because it was a long weekend last weekend, sister also went with us and the rest of mom's chapter members on a getaway to Calatagan, Batangas - a place I haven't been to.


Our day started around 10am of Sunday, when we set on a long journey to Calatagan. The girls and I rode on Tito Ed and Tita Malou's car, while the rest of the group rode Tito Arnold's van. We had a very smooth ride until we reached Nuvali, where the build up of traffic started. Good thing, all of us had the initiative to pack lunch, so even if we didn't really find a restaurant, we were still able to eat a hearty lunch. People looked at us because we were eating at the side of the road, but we didn't really care - it was one of the most unique and memorable dining experiences I have had!


Somewhere between Silang and Tagaytay, we passed by this fruit stand where we bought some lanzones and pomelo. It became our road snack because traffic from here 'til we reached Skyranch Tagaytay was such a pain in the bum!



It was already night time when we reached our destination. Initially, we reserved the green house, but the group that rented the house the day before extended their stay, so we were given this small house (just two small rooms) and two big tents were set up outside to accommodate all of us. It was also a little unfortunate that there weren't lights near the beach, so none of us really dared to take a dip.

Before Calatagan was the town of Lian, and because it was already about 5pm when we reached that town, we decided to buy dinner at their market. For that dinner, we had:


Sinigang na Batalay
It was already very late so there weren't much to buy, so this sinigang lacked other vegetables like sitaw, labanos, and kangkong. Still, this was a tasty dish - perfect soup for the windy night.


Grilled Tilapia
Simple, but oh so good!

For that dinner, we also had Paksiw na Galunggong, but I forgot to take a picture. :(


Early next day, we went to check out the beach, but to our surprise, the low tide made a big area of the beach without water! We thought the tide would come up near lunch time, but it was already 11am, and there weren't much difference in the water level, so we just walked 'til the level of the water was okay for us to dip in.

That early, too, some of the "elders" went to the market to buy ingredients for our lunch. Initially, some of us mentioned Grilled Liempo, but it was decided in the end that we would go for all-fish lunch, and we had:


Grilled Tangigue
I wasn't able to eat this because I am not really into grilled fish, but my sister said it was super delicious.


Grilled Tambakol


Kinilaw na Tangigue
Half of the Tangigue steaks were chopped up and made into Kilawin. This I truly had the pleasure of eating. The fish was still very fresh and had it's natural sweetness, and when dipped into toyo-mansi with garlic and chili peppers, umm umm! :)

The head and the tail of the tangigue (it was a very big fish) were cooked into sinigang, this time with the much loved vegetables. They also served Paksiw na Galunggong and Pritong Galunggong, which I ate a lot of. The combination of Sinigang broth and vegetables just paired well with the Kilawin and Fried Galunggong.

We left around 2 or 3pm that afternoon, and we got home around 10pm, because of the traffic. Well, Calatagan sure was a very far of a place, something I was really thankful to have visited now, because I don't think it would be possible for us girls to travel there using public transportation.

This was such a fun getaway, we hope there will be more of this in the future.