Ingredients

1/4 cup quinoa

　　1/2 cup boiling water

　　Pinch of salt

　　1 teaspoon small julienne of lemon peel or of preserved lemon peel

　　1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

　　Pinch of saffron or turmeric

　　

Step 1

Heat a medium-small heavy skillet, and pour the quinoa into it. Let the grains heat slowly, swirling them around and back and forth until they start to pop and crackle and turn lightly brown. Remove from the heat, and transfer the toasted grains to a small heatproof baking dish with a tight-fitting lid. Pour the boiling water over, and stir in the salt, lemon peel, lemon juice, and saffron or turmeric. Cover (if the lid isn’t tight, seal the top first with a piece of aluminum foil), and bake in a preheated 400° oven for 25 minutes.

　　

Step 2

I particularly like this surrounded by some roasted vegetables—a parsnip, a very small zucchini, a wide strip of red pepper, a slice of fennel. The vegetables, except for the zucchini, will take 5–10 minutes longer, so, after rubbing a little olive oil and salt over them, put them on a Silpat-lined baking sheet and start roasting them that much ahead, then slip the dish of quinoa alongside and let them finish roasting together.

　　The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones. Copyright © 2009 by Judith Jones. Published by Knopf. All Rights Reserved.Judith Jones is senior editor and vice president at Alfred A. Knopf. She is the author of The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food and the coauthor with Evan Jones (her late husband) of three books: The Book of Bread; Knead It, Punch It, Bake It!; and The Book of New New England Cookery. She also collaborated with Angus Cameron on The L. L. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook, and has contributed to Vogue, Saveur, and Gourmet magazines. In 2006, she was awarded the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. She lives in New York City and Vermont.