Fisherman's rice

I had this dish recently at a restaurant in the coastal town of El Golfo in Lanzarote, where I was on holiday. It's basically a paella using whatever fresh fish and seafood is to hand. You can recreate this by using a selection of scallops, squid, prawns, cockles, clams, mussels and so on. Timing is crucial, though: you have to add the fish at the right point so it doesn't over-cook. You can buy special paella rice which is plump, short-grain rice; otherwise use risotto rice.

1 onion, peeled, halved and finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 small red pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2cm dice
4-5tbsp olive oil
A good pinch of saffron
300g paella or risotto rice
1tbsp tomato purée
1 litre fish stock
200g squid, cleaned, cut into rough 2cm pieces
10 medium-sized whole prawns
150g clams, washed
150g mussels, de-bearded and cleaned

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Pre-heat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Heat a wide shallow pan or paella dish on a medium heat on the stove, and cook the onion, garlic and red pepper in the olive oil for 2-3 minutes, stirring every so often until they soften. Add the rice and saffron and continue stirring for a minute or so.

Add half the stock, season and stir well and continue cooking on the stove for a couple of minutes. Add the rest of the stock and cook in the oven for 15 minutes. Stir in the seafood and return to the oven until the rice is plump and the mussels and clams have opened; serve immediately.