Eggplant Carpaccio

by Caryn Broitman

Jocelyn Filley

Marthas's Vineyard Hebrew Center's Rabbi, Caryn Broitman, grilling eggplant outside her home in West Tisbury.

Roast eggplants until very soft on grill. Cool slightly and cut open.

Pour in each about 1 tablespoon good quality, imported tahini, yoghurt (preferably goat milk, freshly squeezed lemon, and olive oil. Also add some crushed garlic, salt and pepper to taste and 1 teaspoon silan (date syrup) or honey. Spoon out the contents of one tomato and finish with fresh oregano leaves.

From The Book of New Israeli Food, edited by Janna Gur

The Rules

It may be hard to eliminate bacon, cheeseburgers and lobster mac & cheese from your diet, which is why it’s important to remember that although the kosher food rules can all be followed as a whole set of rules, following a few rules is just as important. So if you love bacon, start by eliminating something else from your diet (like shellfish). Anywhere is a great place to start.

Here is a list of straightforward kosher food rules:

1. Meat must come from birds and animals killed in accordance with Jewish laws (Deut. 12:21). This excludes eating animals killed by other animals, road kill or animals hunted with guns. Meat must be carefully inspected before serving and eating.
2. Fish must have fins and scales (this means no shellfish, including squid).
3. Any animal you eat must have the blood drained from it (or broiled out).
4. Choose one: meat or dairy. Do not eat meat with dairy. Eggs, fruits and vegetables, fish, and grains can be eaten with either meat or dairy. This rule goes back to the Torah when it says not to “boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” (Ex. 23:19; Ex. 34:26; Deut. 14:21)
5. Depending on the custom of the community, you must wait three to six hours before switching from eating meat to eat dairy.
6. Never eat chelev, a kind of fat around the liver of animal. Kosher butchers remove this part always.
7. History states that wine, while it was processed, was sanctified for pagan purposes. Some believe that only wine made by someone Jewish is kosher.

Keeping a Kosher Kitchen

Observing kosher dietary laws isn’t just limited to the food itself. Separating utensils, cookware, and dinnerware is a must in kosher kitchens. Separate plates and bowls used only for meat products are stored in one cabinet, with another set for dairy products in another. Many people keeping kosher also have specific sponges and dish towels (one for meat, one for dairy) to wash their dishes and cookware with, preventing the mixing of meat with dairy.

Label your cabinets accordingly with these Yiddish words:

Fleishig = Meat
Milchig = Dairy
Pareve = Neutral (neither meat nor dairy)

Eggplant Carpaccio

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The Rules

Here is a list of straightforward kosher food rules:

Keeping a Kosher Kitchen

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