So the other day I was cooking grapefruit with one of Atomic Kitten…
On the scale of one to weird, yep, that’s pretty random. But there was a reason. November heralded the beginning of Florida grapefruit season and Celebrity Masterchef winner and cook Liz McClarnon (better known as the friendly scouser from Atomic Kitten fame) had prepared a few healthy pink grapefruit recipes to celebrate.
Grapefruit is full of vitamin C and A, which help support your immune system and reduce tiredness, particularly handy when you’re feeling sloth like, snotty and wintery ming. The high water content helps you feel fuller for longer, it tastes like sunshine, and apparently Marilyn Monroe reckoned it kept her beautiful. Can’t vouch for the last one but hey ho.
My grapefruit revelation of the day was that it tastes amazing cooked, yep who would have thought it? So here’s one of Liz’s recipes that involves cooking the sunny little sucker. Good for serving as lunch or a swanky starter at a festive dinner. Omit the pancetta to make it veggie – it’ll taste just as good.
Honeyed Florida grapefruit with pancetta, goats cheese and pine nuts
Serves 4
Ingredients:
6 slices pancetta
2tbsp olive oil
2 small knobs butter
4-5tsp honey
1 Florida grapefruit, peeled and segmented by hand (not a knife)
3tbsp balsamic vinegar
2tsp Dijon mustard
Handful of pine nuts
Salt and pepper
Bag of salad leaves
150g goat’s cheese, sliced
How to make:
1. Fry the pancetta in 1tbsp of the oil in a pan until nice and crispy, then place onto kitchen paper to drain off any excess oil.
2. Wipe out the same pan with more kitchen paper to get rid of the excess oil. Add the remaining oil, 1 small knob of the butter and about 2-3tsp honey. Mix it up a little, then add the Florida grapefruit segments to the pan (they need to be in their original segments and not cut to prevent them falling apart when cooking). Stir and make sure they are coated and caramelised (that should take about 4 min), then add 1tbsp of the balsamic vinegar. Put the segments to one side so you can use the pan again.
4. To the pan, add the remaining knob of butter, the remaining balsamic vinegar, the Dijon mustard, the remaining 2tsp honey, the pine nuts and season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix everything together and heat through for about 2 min.
5. Make up the salad: cut the pancetta into bite-sized pieces. Place the salad leaves onto four plates, then add the caramelised Florida grapefruit, the goat’s cheese, the pancetta and pour over the dressing to serve.
Nutritional info:
Per serving
341kcal
12g protein
26.4g fat
10.6g saturates
14.5g carbs
14.2g sugar
1.5g fibre
1.4g salt
22mg vitamin C
0.2mcg vitamin D
