Grain Free Cauliflower Rice Seafood Paella

Paleo, GF, DF, Keto

Serves 6 using a 15” paella pan

Ingredients

2 heads cauliflower (8 cups cauliflower rice) 

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

18 wild caught shrimp

18 fresh mussels

18 clams

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 orange bell pepper, diced

8 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 lb ground chorizo

1 lb sliced chorizo 

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 cup tomato sauce or puree

1/2 tsp ground saffron

1 cup fresh or frozen peas

fresh parsley

sea salt to taste

black pepper to taste 

lemon wedges

Instructions

Cut a large head of cauliflower into 4 quarters. Remove the stems from the cauliflower pieces and discard. Pulse heads of cauliflower in a food processor for about 20 seconds to make the cauliflower rice. It is totally fine to use cauliflower rice that you can find bagged now in the produce section of your market!
 

Finely mince 8 cloves of garlic. Dice the bell peppers. Peel and devein jumbo shrimp, pat dry with paper towels and season with sea salt and black pepper. Slice the chorizo. Clean mussels and clams of any sand.

Heat a 15” paella pan to medium high heat and add the olive oil. Allow oil to get hot and place shrimp seasoned side down in hot oil and cook for 1 minute per side, then remove the shrimp from the pan and set aside.

Add ground chorizo to the pan and cook until browned. Next cook the diced bell peppers until soft, then add the minced garlic. Cook for about a minute, then add the smoked paprika, sea salt, black pepper and tomato sauce and mix together.
 
Allow tomato and spices to cook for about 3 minutes then add the riced cauliflower to the pan along with the saffron. Mix until well combined, then lower the heat to simmer. Allow cauliflower rice to simmer for about 5 minutes stirring constantly, and then add the shrimp back into the pan along with the sliced  chorizo, mussels and clams. Nestle the shellfish into the cauliflower rice so that they heat up and open. 

Sprinkle the whole dish with fresh or frozen peas and then cover the pan tightly with foil and cook for about 8-10 minutes. I usually finish this dish off in the oven, uncovered, under the broiler to brown the top and to ensure that all of the mussels and clams have opened.
 

Garnish your paella with lemon wedges and chopped fresh parsley and enjoy!