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Serves: 4
Prep time: 20 minutes

I was dubious when someone told me you could bake a risotto, thinking it wouldn’t have its usual creaminess or become overcooked and lose its bite, but on experimenting I discovered otherwise, which is great for those days when you don’t have the energy for all that stirring! This risotto makes a perfect dinner-party dish, and because you don’t need to stand over it all the time, you also get to spend time with your guests.

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 x 80g whole semi-dried or fresh chorizo sausage, chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
250g risotto rice
250ml white wine
600ml fish, chicken or vegetable stocka
pinch of saffrona
large pinch of smoked paprika
8 raw king prawns, peeled
8 mussels or clams
1 medium squid, cleaned and cut into pieces (with or without tentacles)
150g monkfosh, trimmed and cut into cubes
a small bunch of fresh, flat-leaf parsley, chopped

For the Chantilly Cream
150ml double cream, whipped softly with 1 teaspoon of icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4. Warm 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large casserole dish and bung in the onions and chorizo. Sauté over a lowish heat for about 8 minutes, or until the onion has softened and turned slightly golden and the chorizo has released all its oil and coloured slightly . Add the garlic and fry for a further minute.

Stir in the rice and fry for a minute, then pour over the wine and stock and sprinkle in the saffron and paprika. Pop a lid on the casserole and place in the oven for 25 minutes.

Remove the casserole from the oven – the rice should by now have absorbed most of the liquid but will still be a little soupy. Increase the oven temperature to 200°C/gas 6. In a bowl, toss the prawns, shellfish, squid and monkfish in the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, then give the risotto a good stir and place the seafood on top. Pop the casserole back into the oven without the lid, and bake for a further 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with parsley. Give it one final stir and it’s ready to serve.