When life hands you grapefruit, make a pie

Note: After posting this recipe, some on statin medication wrote to chide me for the recipe.  According to medical experts one taking statin medicine should avoid grapefruit.

Check with a medical professional.  Or wait until strawberries are in season and make the pie (as noted in the recipe) with strawberries and leave the grapefruits hanging on the tree.

An old cliché is to resolve a life-delivery of lemons by making lemonade.  But grapefruits aren’t lemons.  Some people like them; others think they are bitter, sour and nasty.  This sweet treat will change your mind or add to your pleasure.

This pie has a later-Spring variation when strawberries are in season.  As a child, I remember a  curb service drive-in that specialized in just such a strawberry pie.  When local strawberries start hitting the farmers’ market in late May, early June, substitute the berries for the grapefruit and bliss-out.

For some, the hardest part of the recipe may be cutting grapefruit supremes, which are the juicy segments of citrus kernels (technically vesicles) between the membranes.  If you can’t be bothered, just cut the inner fruit into bite size pieces, membranes and all.  For others, the hardest part may be a pre-baked pie shell.  One can buy these frozen.  Still others may be flummoxed about eating something that incorporates red gelatin.  Swallow your reluctance.  Remember you’re actually eating healthy-ish, i.e., grapefruit.  Having said that, a tower of whipped crème on top of this pie is a luxe finish.  But then again, what isn’t better with a mouthful of whipping cream.

Grapefruit Pie

Ingredients

- 4 pink grapefruit, cut into supremes, drained

- 1 cup grapefruit juice, collected from drained fruit

- 1 T cornstarch

- ½ cup sugar

- 1 (3 ounce) box strawberry gelatin—not sugarfree

- 1 pie shell, pre-baked and cooled

- 4 oz. container heavy cream, whipped

Procedure

1. Pie shell:  If so inclined, make a pie crust using traditional butter/lard, ice water, flour and vodka.  Doing  this will be covered in a subsequent posting.  There are acceptable substitutes:   pre-made frozen pie shells or a pressed graham cracker or vanilla wafer crust:  Crush 20 graham crackers (1.5 cups) or 35 vanilla wafers  in plastic bag with hammer or pulverize in a food processor.  In a bowl, add 3 T sugar and ¼ # (one stick) of melted butter.  Press evenly in bottom and sides into pie pan and bake 15 minutes.  Cool and refrigerate while making filling.

2. Supremes:  Cut bottom and top skin  from grapefruit with SHARP small flexible knife.  This allows the fruit to stabilize on cutting board.  Cut off skin and white pith from top to bottom, exposing fruit segments and membrane.  Holding the peeled fruit gingerly in the palm of one hand, gently cut between membrane and segment one, just to inner connection of segment to center of fruit membrane.  Rotate fruit slightly and cut other side of segment in membrane and flip segment out of membrane encasement into a colander (in a bowl) to collect juices.   When all segments are loosened from membrane, squeeze remaining juice.   There are a lot of YouTube videos demonstrating this.

3. Syrup:  Combine juice (add water if juice is not equal to one cup), cornstarch and sugar in medium saucepan.   Bring to boil until thick and clear.  Add gelatin (other flavors may be substituted) and cool.

4. Fold grapefruit supremes into cooled syrup.    Pour into cooled piecrust and chill until firm.

5. Whip cream with whisk or standing mixer with balloon whisk.  Add vanilla or touch of powdered sugar (optional).  Mound on pie.  Accept all surprised compliments.