Kosher, It's Really Not That Hard

When two officers from Israel come to dinner what do you feed them? Ours is a non-Kosher home, but can making a Kosher meal be done? Well, strictly speaking no. On the other hand you can get pretty close.

First you ask them if they are allowed to eat in your home. If they are, then they are not following strict Kosher guidelines. This is only our second experience hosting Israelis and we've found that most do not, although they do follow the general guidelines of no pork or shrimp (unclean! unclean!).

So if they accept your invitation to dinner you can ask about more specific guidelines. Don't be shy about that, it can save you embarrassment in the end. We found out that one of the officers was a vegetarian. That's when the fun began. I was going to have to find a vegetarian meal that would be hearty enough to satisfy 7 hungry adult males and myself (but hey, I'll eat just about anything with gusto!).

I found just the thing in Everyday Pasta. Not only does Giada De Laurentiis look good cooking, but her dishes are really tasty. I made her Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables and it was really quite delicious. I served it with garlic green beans and a weird salad that I got from Lidia's Italy. Lidia Matticchio Bastianich is not as pretty as Giada, but she's authentic, so even though it sounded weird I made her Orange and Red Onion Salad to round out this Italian meal. It worked! I did get some looks from Bob and the American officers, but they decided it was really good.

Now you may be wondering why I would serve an Italian meal to Israeli officers. One thing I have learned about preparing a meal for foreign officers is never try to duplicate anything that is native to their country as you would never pull it off with any kind of authenticity, and it may even leave a bad taste in their mouth, so to speak. But the all American meal can be kind of boring, so it is okay to try something different . . . hey, for all they know whatever you fix is the all American meal.

Oh, and for dessert you can't go wrong with brownies and vanilla ice cream, because, hey, that is an international favorite!