Sea Monster Pasta

I took the cute idea from Pinterest about making hot dogs look like Octopi and made them for my kids. 

They liked it so much I decide to expand the idea.  

I thought it would be great to make little sausages into Octopi and then have shrimp and it would be sea creatures. Then it hit me: Gumbo.  It has shrimp and sausage.  So off I went.  I didn't want traditional Gumbo since it wouldn't carry well in my kids lunch box, so I opted for pasta. 

Cooked the pasta first and chilled it. (Toss with a little olive oil to prevent sticking)

Started with carrots, celery, onions, orange sweet peppers, and sweet peas. 

A hot skillet and butter.  

Sauté all the chopped veggies in butter. 

Add garlic, gumbo file, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper and the shrimp. (I used precooked shrimp since it was on sale)

When it was all mixed I added some beer to it. 

Bring to a boil and let it cook for a while. 

I started cutting my sausages into my little Octopi.  Since they are tougher an smaller then hot dogs it was a little harder but not bad. 

I tossed them in as I went so they could cook. 

When the sausages were fully soaked in and the sauce had reduced I added some flour (or you can add cornstarch) and brought it back to a boil and let it thicken. I got out my pasta I cooked first and chilled. 

Notice the sauce is thicker. You do not want it too thick since we are mixing it with noodles and you want enough sauce I soak into the noodles to make it all blend well. 

Done.  ;).   

It was a little spicy, so next time I will have to go a little lighter on the spices. ;)

Happy eating!