It is grapefruit time

It is grapefruit time again and when my guest told me how much she enjoyed her grapefruit starter (a take on Bircher Muesli served with grapefruit) I remembered how my daughter loved her grapefruit:

When I was a little girl my mother would give me half a grapefruit sprinkled with sugar, each segment delicately cut loose for me to eat it more easily. I still remember that bitter sweet deliciousness.It is such a fond memory, but thinking about it now I realise it was quite unusual for me to be eating, not to mention enjoying grapefruit at that age! Somewhere along the line, probably when I started doing my own shopping and choosing what to fill my fruit bowl with, grapefruit didn't quite make the cut and many years passed without me giving them much notice.'

I serve it as she describes, but my favorite way of serving it is to replace the apples one would normally use in Bircher Muesli with broken grapefruit segments. You basically mix segments of half a grapefruit with 80 ml double fat yoghurt, 80 ml raw oats and 80 ml commercial muesli.

Another idea is to top it with a meringue - you beat 3 egg whites until soft peaks form, then gradually add 60 ml castor sugar. Place 2 cups of milk in a saucepan, bring to a gentle simmer. Drop dessert spoon full of meringue mixture at a time into simmering milk. Poach on one side for about one minute and gently turn over using a slotted spoon. Remove carefully to drain on absorbent paper. Cut a grapefruit in half and loosen the segments and then slide the meringues onto the grapefruit halves. Just before serving I sprinkle a few grains of dark brown sugar onto it (the moisture in the meringue will make it melt) Garnish with a sprig of mint. (I use the discarded milk to make creamy maize porridge.)

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