Perfect Pinic Potluck Food

Last night, I reviewed Tamasin Noyes' comfort-food cookbook American Vegan Kitchen, a phenomenal volume of downhome, blue plate special-style dishes. I know this may sound crazy, but I think I actually love Tami's book more than the Veganomicon. Yep, I said it. I don't care if that's vegan blasphemy. Don't get me wrong — I still love Isa and Terry's magnificent tome. But Tami's cookin' is so in line with my style of no frills, home-cookin'.

I went to a potluck picnic on the first day of spring. Even though it was almost two weeks ago, I saved this post so I could post two gushing reviews of Tami's book back-to-back. The picnic at Ellendale Park in Bartlett (a suburb of Memphis) celebrated the Spring Equinox, a time when people traditionally make dishes with eggs. But um, yuck. No eggs for me.

Instead I brought this Spicy Tofu Noodle Salad from American Vegan Kitchen:

Tofu is lightly pan-fried in chili oil and served atop whole wheat spaghetti noodles (her recipe calls for cappelini but I wasn't sure what that was) tossed with red bell pepper, cucumber, Napa cabbage, and a spicy Asian sauce with hints of sesame and ginger.

It was a huge hit with all the omnis, who made up about 98 percent of the folks in attendance. Tami's recipe says it serves four, but it actually made a HUGE batch. I had to use a Halloween candy bowl to hold it all since none of my serving bowls are that big. The size of the dish, the fact that it didn't need to be served warm, and the sheer deliciousness made this the perfect pinic potluck food.