What a Crock!: Not just pasta

Add shrimp, okra, tomatoes

Advocate staff photo by PATRICK DENNISShrimp, okra and tomoatoes make slow-cooker dish more than 'just spagahetti.'

Check out food trends in any magazine, restaurant, television food show or cookbook and notice the imaginative things happening in food.

To me, it’s especially evident with just about any pasta dish. There are so many colorful, imaginative pairings.

Take spaghetti, for example. Simply add shrimp and okra to tomatoes and you no longer have “just spaghetti.” The flavor changes as well as the expectations.

It’s good to have a food surprise every now and then. It’s good for the taste buds.

When preparing Shrimp and Okra Spaghetti in the slow cooker, add shrimp to the tomato and okra mixture in the last hour of cooking time; stir well and turn to High. Cook pasta separately.

Food trends are always so enticing, but with the number of creative cooks here in Louisiana, we can surely create a few enticing surprises of our own.

Julie Kay is a columnist for The Advocate. Reach her at [e-mail].