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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

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.

16 comments:

  1. I have Tami's book on my wish list! What you've made so far looks so delicious and Tami is such a wonderful person.

    Cappelini is angel hair pasta, so basically just very thin spaghetti. :)

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  2. This looks SO good. I love tofu and noodles. Yum :)

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  3. I need to find a way to order that book! Everything you posted looks so amazing.

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  4. MORE THAN V'CON? It must be amazing!

    Those noodles look so delish...

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  5. Spicy tofu rocks! What a super-yummy looking salad :)

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  6. that is a lot of pasta salad, and it looks wonderful. any recipe calling for chili oil = the best! i can totally see how you'd like Tami's book over v'con. while i love me some v'con, some of the recipes are a little too time consuming and not all of them are what i love the most. right now i'm really digging yellow rose recipes and get it ripe, and i have a feeling i'm going to loooooove Tami's book. i too put it on my wishlist.

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  7. WHOA WHOA dem's fightin' words!

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  8. we just had a vegan pot luck dinner this past saturday. raw beet and pea shoot salad, seitan with kale, ratatouille with polenta. yummmmm
    check it out

    http://www.mangiavita.com/2010/03/how-to-do-pot-luck-right-way.html

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  9. Haha your comment made me chuckle. I'm far too much of a booze-hound myself to even consider pregnancy...even though I look pregnant after a night of downing a 6 pack :)

    Those noodles look divine! I'm obsessed with anything pasta related.

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  10. Robin Robertson at Vegan Planet made the same thing! Synchronicity!

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  11. I just got this book, too! I am a SUCKER for anything homestyle, comforty, creamy and dreamy, so I am more excited about this cookbook than any that have come out recently. I'm going to make the deli reubenettes for an Easter appetizer this weekend. Other recipes I can't wait to try: Tuna-free noodle casserole, the NY-style cheesecake, Brewpub tater tot pie.

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  12. I tested for Tami's cookbook, and I agree--it is amazing!

    Courtney

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  13. It does not approach me. Who else, what can prompt?

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