Paleo Broccoli Rice Paella
Simple Paella
I am dipping my toes into Spanish cuisine with a broccoli rice paella. I used a mixed seafood because I like the flavors of all the different seafood. But you can easily use shrimps based on your personal preference. I can’t recall making any other Spanish dish on the blog. But we do love to add chorizo to anything, we have it in our basic scramble, a turkey chorizo mini burger or squash soup with chorizo and sage.
I’m not entirely sure that Spanish people would be all too happy with my interpretation of a paella. Not sure if they would be accepting of my broccoli rice substitute. Broccoli rice doesn’t get you that crispy bottom that you would get with rice. But I mean everything else is there. You have got Spanish chorizo, seafood and saffron. And at the end of the day it tastes delicious and you are getting more veggies in. I call that a win.
Broccoli Rice
It’s been all about the cauliflower rice and the broccoli rice doesn’t get that much attention. The time has finally come for broccoli rice to be in the spotlight. Move over cauliflower broccoli is coming. And the great thing about it is that you can use the whole broccoli, stem and all. In the Netherlands we are quite spoiled because you can buy it already riced at the supermarkets. And it’s done surprisingly nice. But should you have to do it by hand you can follow these steps. First remove any woody section at the bottom. Proceed to cut the broccoli into even chunks, which makes it easier to process. Lastly add to the food processor and pulse till you get a rice like consistence. If the chunks are not cut even you will get bits that will breakdown too much and other areas that are too big.
Broccoli also has great health benefits and is a good source of fiber and protein which includes iron, potassium, selenium and magnesium. And when it comes to vitamins we can start with the alphabet A, B, C, E, K. Let’s get our broccoli on!
Broccoli Rice Paella
Ingredients
- 400 gram broccoli rice
- 200 gram chorizo sliced and quartered
- 300 gram mix seafood or shrimps
- 1 tsp saffron threads
- 1 onion diced
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 200 ml chicken stock
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 lemon in wedges
- fresh parsley
Instructions
- In a paella pan or wide set pan melt the coconut oil.
- Add the chorizo to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. You will continue cooking everything in the chorizo fat.
- Cook the diced onion in the chorizo fat until translucent 5-7 minutes.
- Add the bell pepper and cook for another 3 minutes before adding the garlic.
- Add the broccoli rice, seafood and chorizo to the pan and mix everything together.
- Stir the saffron threads into your stock and add to the pan. Allow to cook on medium high heat for 5-7 minutes or until it starts bubbling on the side. Lower heat and continue cooking for another 5 minutes.
- Present with lemon wedges and fresh parsley on top and dig in.