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Last night, Jordan held a backyard potluck party to coincide with a trip to see the new zombi flick 28 Days. He asked guests to bring body-part themed dishes in the spirit of the film's zombi story. As a vegetarian, I racked my brain to think of plant foods that would evoke viscera while still being edible. It finally occurred to me that seitan could be passed of as a variety of body parts. My last batch of seitan was particularly pale and gnarly, so I settled on passing it off as zombi brains. I used them in a potato salad, "potato salad with zombi brains and sun-dried tomatoes," that is.

When I got to the party, I was pleasantly surprised. Nearly everyone made vegetarian horror movie dishes. Jordan made a sort of minestrone he called Sudden Infant Death Soup, another person made fried rice with soy chorizo, and there was Sangria with a beautifully carved apple skull. I took care to garnish the top of my potato salad with green onions and sliced seitan. One guest told me, "Your dish was the only one that really scared me," which I took as a compliment.

Althought it evoked dread in its consumers, I got a few compliments on the salad, so I've posted the recipe below.

Potato Salad with Zombi Brains and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Prepare this dressing the night before, so the tomatoes and herbs have time to marinade in the vinegar. Pour the vinegar into a small plastic container like tupperware. Chop the sun-dried tomatoes in to tiny pieces, perhaps a quarter-inch square, then add to the vinegar. Crush the garlic into the container with a press or carefully mince the garlic, then add to container with oregano and thyme. Place lid on container, then shake up the ingredients to mix.

After you've given the dressing time to brew, peel and dice the potatoes and add to a saucepan. If you like your potato salad pasty, cut them into smaller pieces. If you like it chunkier, cut them larger. Add enough water to cover the potatoes and pour in the salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook the potatoes until they're pretty soft; you'll want them nice and mushy for the salad. Once the potatoes are cooked, drain off the water. Chop the green onions into small, latitudinal slices, set aside a few tablespoons for garnish then add the rest to the potatoes. Slice the seitan into thin strips, save a few particularly gnarly-looking pieces for garnish, then add the rest. Shake up the salad dressing, then pour into saucepan. Measure out the oil, add to dressing container to pick up any leftover herbs, shake up, then pour into the pan. With a large spoon, mix up the ingredients until you get a pasty, pinkish mixture. Move to your serving dish, then garnish with green onions and carefully arranged seitan slices. Serve hot, or chill for a few hours and serve cold.