SEAFOOD AND NDUJA STEW (SERVES 8)

Ingredients:

4tbsp extra-virgin olive oil;

80-100g nduja;

4 garlic cloves, lightly crushed;

2 onions, nely sliced;

500g fresh, or frozen and defrosted, raw calamari (squid), cleaned and cut into 1cm rings;

200ml dry white wine;

3 x 400g cans Italian plum tomatoes, chopped; 1tbsp tomato puree;

250g clams or mussels or a mixture; 1-2tsp smoked paprika (optional);

500g monk sh, cod or coley or other rm sh, cut into bite-sized pieces;

250g raw prawns, heads left intact, shells and black veins removed; small handful of parsley, leaves and stems roughly chopped;

Salt and pepper

Method:

Heat the olive oil and 80 grams of the nduja in a frying pan (with a lid) over a medium heat for a few minutes, bashing the nduja with a wooden spoon to break it up. Add the garlic and onions, then continue to cook for around 10 minutes, stirring to prevent it burning, until the onion is soft.

Add the calamari to the pan and let it cook until the water is released from the calamari, about 10 minutes. When the calamari has a “bouncy” appearance, add the wine and allow this to evaporate for ‰ve minutes. Add the tomatoes and the puree and bring the stew to a bubbling heat. Šen lower the heat and simmer for at least one-and-a-half hours, partially covered, or until the calamari is soft.

Keep the clams or mussels in the fridge until you are ready to use them. Generally they are purged and cleaned when you buy them but to be sure, put them into a bowl of cold water and stir them through. Leave them for 20-30 minutes in a cool place (the fridge if your kitchen isn’t cool), stirring a few times to encourage them to release any grit. Pick over them, discarding any that remain open once tapped. Pull any fuzzy beards o• the mussels. Discard any shell‰sh with broken shells. Drain and use straight away.

Taste the stew and add more nduja or smoked paprika for spice or salt and pepper. Še stew can be cooled and kept for one to two days at this point, if it makes entertaining easier. Reheat until bubbling before continuing.

Just before serving, drop the monk‰sh, prawns and mussels, if using, into the hot stew with the lid on and continue to cook for around 10 minutes, or until the ‰sh is cooked through, the prawns are pink and the clams or mussels have opened (discard any that haven’t). Serve straight away with the parsley scattered over.