Shrimp + Sausage Quinoa Paella
Notes: This is a great family style dish and one pot meal. Traditionally made with white rice, I’ve upgraded it to quinoa to cut down on the cooking time and give it a little bit more protein, but you can also try this recipe with black rice, wild rice or brown rice. Scallops, shrimp, mussels, clams, shredded pork or chicken would also work great in this recipe, depending on your tastes.
Ingredients
- 4 links organic chicken or Andouille sausage sliced into coins
- ½ pound wild shrimp pre-cooked
- 1 ½ cups quinoa or brown/wild/black rice plus 3 cups water
- 1 16 ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 medium bell pepper sliced
- 10 medium cremini or white mushrooms sliced (optional)
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 pinch saffron
- 1 lemon sliced into wedges for serving
- sprinkle of chili powder
- sea salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. In a large skillet, sauté onion and garlic until fragrant. Add mushrooms first, then peppers, and sauté until brown. In the meantime, cook quinoa: Add 3 cups water and 1 ½ cups quinoa with a few dashes of sea salt to a large soup pot, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to a low simmer and keep covered for 10 minutes. Fluff when done.
- Remove veggies from pan, and set aside. Add more oil to the pan, and cook sausage pieces and shrimp -you may have to do it one at a time depending on space. Add peas in the last 3 minutes of cooking as well. Set aside. Add quinoa, sea salt, pepper and the smoked paprika, saffron, tomato sauce, onions and garlic to a large bowl. Stir well to combine, then add to an oven-proof skillet. Layer veggies, sausage, and shrimp on top to serve. Heat for 5 minutes then serve hot. Garnish with lemon wedges.