Warm Farro and Roast Squash Bowl

Heat the oven to 200C/400F.

Toss the squash chunks with 2 tbsp of the olive oil, the 4g of fine salt and the chilli flakes.

Spread them on a large tray in a single layer with space between the pieces, so the water coming off them can evaporate instead of pooling and stewing them pale.

Roast for 25 minutes.

Toast the pumpkin seeds in a dry frying pan over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, shaking often, until they swell, pop and smell nutty.

Tip them straight out of the pan onto a plate. Seeds left in hot metal go on cooking and are bitter within a minute of being perfect.

Bring the 2 litres of water to the boil in a large pan and stir in the 10g of fine salt.

Cook the farro like pasta, uncovered, for 18-22 minutes.

Toss the torn kale with the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil and add it to the squash tray for the last 8 minutes, turning it through the pan juices.

Take the tray out when the kale edges are crisp and dark and the thicker parts are still supple, and the squash is browned at the corners and gives under a knife tip.

Taste the farro from 18 minutes. Every grain should be tender with a distinct chew at the centre, closer to barley than to rice — cooked to fluffy it turns to mush once the dressing goes on.

Drain the farro well and shake the sieve hard, since water left clinging thins the dressing.

Tip the hot farro into a wide bowl.

Pour over the vinaigrette and turn it through while the grains are still steaming. Dressing it hot is the point of the recipe: a cold grain sits in dressing without drawing any of it in, and the bowl ends up tasting only of its surface.

Leave it to stand for 5 minutes, stirring once, until the dressing has visibly thinned as the farro takes it up.

Fold the roast squash and the kale through gently, with two or three turns rather than stirring, so the squash keeps its shape.

Fold in the lemon zest, the parsley and the ground peppercorns.

Taste for salt with the feta in mind, since it brings a good deal of its own.

Scatter the feta and the toasted pumpkin seeds over the top rather than mixing them in. Folded through, the feta smears across the grains and turns the whole bowl a flat pink-grey.

Serve warm or at room temperature, within an hour, while the kale is still crisp.