Despite my recent enthusiasm for making non-white bread (there's currently a spelt-bit of rye-wholemeal-seedy loaf sitting cooling in the kitchen), we've been eating pretty unhealthily for the last few weeks. Lots of sugar-poached quinces and their derivatives, blog-inspired oeuf cocotte with Boursin cheese and red onion confit, all-too-easily delivered La Cucina pizza, and then a gigantic meal at Tamarind in London last night..... I feel like a bloated jellyfish. Or some other disgusting thing. So tonight I wanted something whole-grainy, with fresh vegetables and not too much fat. I bought a packet of spelt last time I went overboard at Infinity Foods, so I put that on to cook and then rustled up some capsicum and beans left over from a couple of nights ago (I always feel so virtuous when I use up left over vegetables, rather than letting them go liquid in the crisper!). I was going to leave out the feta - I tasted the dish before adding it, and it was perfectly good as it was - but Ted seduced me over to the dark side by opening the packet to put some cheese on his share. And that little bit of creamy saltiness scattered through the nutty, chewy grains does work very well. I'd be very happy to make this recipe again, even when not specifically in search of gastronomic wholesomeness.

Rinse the spelt in a sieve and drain well. Put the spelt and the stock in a pot with a tight-fitting lid. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for about an hour, until the stock is absorbed and the spelt is tender but still firm to the bite. Towards the end of the hour, check on the spelt to make sure that it's not boiling dry, and add more liquid if necessary. If there's too much liquid, leave the lid off for the last 10 minutes or so to let it boil off. Season to taste.

When the farro is almost done, prepare the vegetables. Cut the capsicum into very fine strips. Top the beans, and cut in half. Peel and mince the garlic. Heat a little oil in a wok, then add the capsicum, beans, garlic and vinegar. Stir over medium heat for 4 or 5 minutes, until the vegetables are tender (if you prefer the beans to be less crispy, you can blanch them first).

Mix together the spelt, the vegetables and the crumbled feta, and serve at once.

Serves 2.

5 February 2004