One Ingredient, Four Recipes: Grapefruit

Text & Photos by Francisco Collazo

There are some foods we become so accustomed to using in one way that we have a hard time thinking of other ways to use them.

One of my favorite things to do in the kitchen is experiment with these ingredients, pushing them to their limits to see how they can be used.

People love seeing these foods presented in ways they’ve never seen them before, with combinations that have never touched their palates.

Today, I’m starting an occasional series called “One Ingredient, Four Recipes.” I’ll be taking a single item and sharing four recipes I’ve invented or modified to use that ingredient in surprising and delicious dishes.

The first ingredient is grapefruit.

This week, Julie and I are in Puerto Rico, where our friends’ yard is full of fruit trees: plantains, mangos, papaya, and more. It’s grapefruit season, and the round sun-colored fruits are falling from the trees, leaving a blanket of yellow on the grass each morning.

Julie goes out and collects the grapefruit and makes fresh-squeezed juice. But since there are so many and we don’t want them to go to waste, I started to think of other ways to use them. Here are 5 recipes:

Grapefruit Martini

(serves 2-4, depending upon the size of your martini glasses)

-4 shots of vodka (Absolut has Ruby Red Grapefruit Vodka, but that’s not necessary)
-2 shots of Cointreau
-juice of 1 or 2 grapefruits (will depend entirely on how much juice each grapefruit has; if the grapefruit seems rather dry, use the juice of two).
-ice

Put all ingredients in a shaker. Shake well. If you don’t want any pulp in your martini, put a fine mesh strainer over the martini glass and pour the mix through it. You can garnish with a half slice of grapefruit or a cherry. I also really like to garnish martinis with wild hibiscus flowers, which impart a nice garnet color to the drink and surprise people because they’re so unusual. You can order tWild Hibiscus Flowers in Syrup on Amazon.

Grapefruit Garlic Chili Marinade

Citrus juices form the base of many marinades, and fresh squeezed grapefruit juice makes a great marinade for fish, chicken, and pork. This recipe for a spicy, tart marinade gives you enough to coat two pieces of fish, chicken, or pork; double the recipe for four.

-juice from 4 grapefruit
-3 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
-1.5 heaping teaspoons of chili powder. Alternately, if you have fresh jalapenos, I’d recommend roasting them on the stove top, deseeding them, chopping them finely and then adding to the marinade.
-If you happen to have any fresh herbs like cilantro or flat leaf parsley on hand, chop a generous handful and add it to the mix.
-2 teaspoons of honey (honey helps balance out the tartness of the grapefruit)

Once you’ve made your marinade, put it into a flat plastic or glass container and lay your fish, chicken, or pork on the bottom. Cover with marinade and let it sit for 3-24 hours. Then, remove the meat from the marinade and grill it to taste, either on a BBQ grill or on your stove top in a grill pan.

Grapefruit Ginger Vinaigrette

Like marinades, citrus fruit juices make good bases for salad dressings. One of my favorites at any time of year is a grapefruit ginger vinaigrette. Serves four.

-1 cup of olive oil
-1/2 cup of white balsamic vinegar
-Juice of 2-3 grapefruit (again, depending on how juicy your grapefruit are)
1/2 teaspoon of fresh grated ginger
-White pepper to taste

Mix well and toss salad with light coating of the dressing.

Baked Grapefruit

I was determined to come up with a way to use grapefruit for dessert!

Did you know you can actually bake grapefruit?! Yes, you can! It’s the simplest dessert but because few people have ever thought about baking grapefruit, they’re totally impressed!

-Cut a grapefruit in half.
-Sprinkle each half with brown sugar or drizzle lightly with honey.
-Sprinkle some cinnamon or cardamom over the top. You could also place a cinnamon stick in the center of each grapefruit half while it bakes, and the essence will seep into the citrus. For an easy but impressive touch, trade the cinnamon for a piece of star anise, placed right on the top of the grapefruit, in the center.
-Bake the grapefruit for about 10-15 minutes on 375F, or just until golden, then serve on a plate or in a bowl.

Do you think you might try these recipes? You don’t have to be in Puerto Rico to find grapefruit this time of year; citrus is one of the few fruits available in winter that is consistently good. Can you think of other ways to use grapefruit? Share your ideas below!

Share and Enjoy:

6 Responses to “One Ingredient, Four Recipes: Grapefruit”

Data Entry Services Says:
December 6th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Yum – these sound so good. Especially the Grapefruit Ginger Vinaigrette. What a pleasure it would be to have a grapefruit tree in the back yard. I found a recipe that sound so fresh and good also so I’ll share it here with you:

Berried Avocado Grapefruit Salad

Bibb lettuce
Watercress
2 avocados, seeded, peeled and sliced
2 cups grapefruit sections
1 cup fresh raspberries

Prepared sweet vinegar and oil dressing
Line serving platter or individual salad plates with lettuce and watercress. Arrange avocado, grapefruit and raspberries over and sprinkle with dressing.
outdoor griller Says:
December 6th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
That sounds good, I only eat grapefruit with sugar on it.If you want more grilling recipes or if you want to take a look at the collection of tips I have for grilling you can visit http://www.cookingandgrillinoutdoors.com
julie Says:
December 7th, 2008 at 12:02 am
Thanks to both of you for the tips! Love the sound of the berried avocado grapefruit salad! And watercress (“berro” in Spanish), is Francisco’s favorite salad green!
Tim Reynolds Says:
December 7th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Nice post. Thank you for the info. Keep it up.
Tanya Says:
December 7th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
I’m super excited to try the marinade. Grapefruit is one of my favorite fruits. It must be so awesome to be able to pick fresh ones every day!
Justin Scott Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
You should enter all of these recipes in the Rio Star Challenge. They have $5,000 in total prizes up for grabs. Good luck! The Grapefruit Garlic Chili Marinade sounds especially tasty.