Maria served up her Spanish, seafood fideua dish that is a Valencian style one-pot meal similar to paella on Nigel Slater: Eating Together.

Ingredients for the stock: 6 tomatoes, grated, 3 garlic cloves, skins left on, crushed, 2 onions, roughly chopped, 2 dried ñora peppers, head and bones from the monkfish (see below), 1.5 litres boiling water, 1 lemon, juice only and pinch salt.

For the fideua: 4 tbsp olive oil, 1 whole monkfish, bones removed, tail flesh cut into large chunks, head and bones reserved for the stock (see above), 12 king prawns, 2 onions, finely chopped, 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped, 2 squid, cleaned, spines removed, flesh roughly chopped, 2 dried ñora peppers, finely chopped, 500g short vermicelli noodles (called ‘fideo’ in Spain), 2 tbsp smoked paprika, 400g mussels, scrubbed and de-bearded (discard any mussels that do not shut tightly when tapped firmly) and salt and freshly ground black pepper.

For the picada: 100g almonds, 4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley and 2 lemons, cut into wedges, to garnish.