Buckwheat porridge with roasted rhubarb and tahini

Cover the buckwheat in cold water and leave it overnight on the counter. In the morning it will have swollen and softened, and the soaking water will have gone faintly viscous — this is normal, and it is exactly what you rinse away.

Heat the oven to 200°C. Lay the rhubarb in a single layer in a small dish, spoon over the honey and the orange juice, and scatter half the zest. Roast for 12–15 minutes, until the pieces are tender at the edges but still holding their shape. Take them out before they collapse. Rhubarb goes from perfect to stringy in about ninety seconds, and there is no coming back.

Meanwhile, drain and rinse the buckwheat well. Put it in a heavy pan with the water, the milk and the salt, and bring it to a bare simmer. Cook for 12 minutes, stirring often with a wooden spoon, until the grains have given up their starch and the whole thing pulls slowly off the base of the pan. It should be loose — it thickens as it sits.

Spoon into two warm bowls. Swirl in the tahini so it marbles rather than disappears, then spoon the rhubarb and its pink syrup over the top. Finish with the pumpkin seeds and the rest of the orange zest.

If you want it richer

Stir a spoonful of tahini directly into the porridge in the last minute of cooking. It turns the whole thing the colour of pale sand and gives it a savoury depth that stops the rhubarb from reading as dessert.

Keeping

The porridge keeps three days in the fridge and reheats with a splash of milk. The rhubarb keeps five, and is very good on yoghurt, or eaten standing at the fridge with a teaspoon, which is what usually happens here.