Last week, a coworker of mine got a gigantic paella pan for Christmas from his mother-in-law. This event reminded me of how delicious paella is, and how I’ve never actually attempted to make it. It was a great time for us to finally venture out to the local international market, as well. We were able to find everything we needed there, and all for much less than what we typically pay at the local grocer.
We were really happy with how this paella came out. As we substituted cauliflower rice for white rice, it does not need as much broth as you might find in traditional recipes. It does not, however, lack in taste. I look forward to making this again sometime soon, perhaps also adding in muscles or baby scallops to the mix as well.
Ingredients
3 chorizo, uncooked, thickly sliced
3 lbs chicken, bone in and skin on (we used 3 leg quarters)
1 lb peeled, deveined shrimp
6 C shredded cauliflower (about 1 head of cauliflower)
2/3 C flat italian parsley, finely diced
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 peeled, diced tomatoes
1/2 C chicken broth
a pinch of saffron
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 C olive oil
Method
Sprinkle paprika and oregano over chicken and let sit 30-45 minutes.
Add olive oil to your large pan (paella pan if you’re so lucky), and heat over medium-high heat. Once heated, brown your thickly sliced chorizo, and then set aside.
Cook the chicken, skin side down first, and brown on either side. Cook approximately 5-7 minutes per side.
Lowering the temperature to medium heat, make a sofrito by sautéing the onions, garlic, and parsley in the same pan (reserving the liquids from cooking the chorizo and chicken), cooking the onions until translucent.
Fold in the diced tomatoes, pinch of saffron, and pour in the chicken broth.
Add in the cauliflower rice and shrimp, and then add back the chicken and chorizo.
Bake uncovered on 350ºF until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 160ºF (for us, approximately 20 minutes).
We hope you’ll give this great dish a shot. It’s really flavorful and filling, plus a lot of fun to make.
What’s your favorite Spanish dish to make? Let us know here, or on Facebook or twitter!
This looks absolutely delicious. Can’t wait to try it!
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At what stage did you add the cauliflower? I can’t seem to find it in the instructions.. . It looks delicious…can’t wait to try it!
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You’re absolutely right, Stacy–I forgot that part. It goes in along with the shrimp and chorizo, right after adding in the tomatoes to the sofrito. It’s been edited above. Thanks for catching that!
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What about the cauliflower?
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Everybody is so sharp! I’ve edited the post to indicate where the cauliflower rice is added. Thanks!
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This looks absolutely DELICIOUS! I love paella and would like to try this soon.
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i made this for dinner tonight, but realized that your recipe never told me to add the saffron:/ other than that everything else was great!! i enjoyed the ‘rice’ more than anything else. It was so flavorful:)
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Oh jeez, I’m sorry–I’m apparently the worst at this! I believe we added our saffron along with the chicken broth and tomatoes (I’ve edited the recipe to reflect that). I’m glad to hear you liked it despite my sloppy copy editing! 🙂
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I just made this for dinner tonight. Gee it was yum. I remembered the saffron at the end just before placing into the oven. Nice save. My husband scoffed it down. I thought that the cauliflower would have come out mushy, but no it is still firm and granular. A regular staple I think from now on. Thanks so much for the recipe.
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This doesn’t tell how to make cauliflower recipe?
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Ruchi, thanks for your comment and sorry this took a bit to reply to–we’ve posted how we traditionally make our cauliflower rice: http://vahuntergatherers.com/2013/02/22/cauliflower-rice/.
You wouldn’t cook it like we do, but instead add it as the recipe above suggests, but this is how we make it.
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