We Have a New Guest Chef – Dolly Aizenman

It has been quite awhile since our last Guest Chef. No one has been sending anything in, and I miss that. I love seeing what’s cooking in your kitchens. But all that has changed, and now, we have a new Guest Chef, my friend, Dolly Aizenman.

You all might know Dolly from her blog, Kool Kosher Kitchen at https://koolkosherkitchen.wordpress.com/. Dolly always cooks with love. All her recipes look and sound amazing. Not only does she cook with love, but she also gives you a great history lesson with just about all of her recipes as well, which I love. Here is a little bit about this amazing lady in her own words.

Dolly submitted a recipe, and its history lesson, for chicken pastrami, which apparently, according to both history and legend, is the secret of happiness. I am not going to give you Dolly’s history behind chicken pastrami because I could never write it and present it like she does. So, you will have to learn more about it by going to Dolly’s website koolkosherkitchen.wordpress.com instead. I will, however, give you her recipe for chicken pastrami or pastromo as it is also called.

Dolly’s Chicken Pastrami or Pastromo

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1 cup dry red wine

1 TBSP mustard seeds

3-4 bay leaves

3-4 fresh sage leaves

4-5 garlic cloves, diced fine

1 tsp black peppercorn

2 TBSP Agave syrup or honey

1 TBSP paprika

1 TBSP sea salt

Mix everything together as a marinade and place the chicken breasts into the mixture, cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.

When you are ready to cook the chicken, preheat the oven to 480* F.

Drain the chicken breasts and pat them dry with a paper towel to remove all the excess liquid. Place the chicken breasts on top of each other and tie firmly with cooking twine.

Place the chicken onto a lightly oiled baking sheet and bake uncovered for 25 minutes. Turn the oven off and keep the chicken in the oven for an additional hour.

Remove the chicken from the oven and slice thinly. You can eat this either warm or cold.

Dolly is quite an amazing lady and lives her life to the fullest. She has a real zest for life and it shows in everything she does, and in her beautiful smile. You can see she is thoroughly enjoying this mojito.

Though Dolly and I have never actually met face to face, I feel as though I have known her for years. We met through the fun and fabulous world of blogging. We are kindred spirits and have so much in common. We have shared many glasses of “virtual” chardonnay together and we are both looking forward to being able to share a real glass or two or three with each other one day.

I am raising a glass of chilled chardonnay to you Dolly. I look forward to sharing our chardonnays together. Cheers!!!!

I love getting to know all of you better and sharing your pictures and recipes. It is always an open invitation to all of you chefs out there in the blogospehere and beyond. Please, send me you pictures and your stories so we can all get to know you better and so we can see what’s cookin’ in your kitchens. Send them to my email address at ljbjej@q.com.

Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

I have worked in the restaurant and catering industry for over 35 years. I attended 2 culinary schools in Southern California, and have a degree in culinary arts from the Southern California School of Culinary Arts, as well as a few other degrees in other areas. I love to cook and I love to feed people. View all posts by ajeanneinthekitchen