Peel and finely chop the onion. Trim the dry ends off the fennel and pluck off any soft fronds for later. Halve the fennel bulb and slice into long, thin lengths, then chop those into small dice to match the onions.

Put a large pan or casserole dish on a medium heat and warm for 2 mins. Add 2 tbsp olive oil with the veg and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Gently cook, stirring every so often, for 8 mins till the veg are soft but haven’t picked up too much colour. If they start to brown, turn the heat down and add a splash of water.

While the veg cook, halve the pepper. Scoop out the seeds and white pith and chop the pepper to match the onion and fennel. Roughly chop the tomatoes into small pieces. Add the pepper and tomatoes to the pan with a pinch more salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 mins to soften them.

While the veg cook, peel and crush or grate the garlic. Halve the chilli. Scoop out the seeds and white pith, then finely chop the chilli (see our tip, right). Finely chop the parsley stalks (keep the leaves for later). Crumble the stock cube into a heatproof jug and stir in 1½ ltrs boiling water.

Stir the garlic, chilli and parsley stalks into the veg. Add 2 tsp smoked paprika and 1 tsp turmeric. Give everything in the pan a really good stir to mix it all together.

Stir through the risotto rice. Pour in the hot stock and give another good stir.

Clamp a lid on the pan (or use a baking tray if you don’t have a lid). Turn the heat up and bring to the boil, then turn the heat right down. Simmer very gently for 20-25 mins, stirring occasionally, till the rice is tender and the dish is thick, but not too dry.

While the rice cooks, finely grate the zest from the lemon. Roughly chop the parsley leaves.

Stir the lemon zest into the rice and squeeze in the lemon juice. Taste the rice and add a pinch more salt and pepper if you think it needs it. Spoon the rice into warm bowls and garnish with the chopped parsley and fennel fronds to serve.