Rum and Brown Sugar Broiled Grapefruit
I’m so not into trendy food practices. If I’m honest it’s not that the food doesn’t always appeal to me but I am the antithesis of a follower. I don’t want to do what everyone else is doing. So at times I can come very late to the party and I’m OK with that; if it feels like it’s on my own time frame than I don’t count that as following the crowd. Today is a great example with this recipe for Rum and Brown Sugar Broiled Grapefruit.
I saw people ooh and aah over grapefruit sprinkled with sugar and broiled a couple of years ago and I admit, it did sound good. Grapefruit is too tart to not serve with a dose of sugar and putting it under the broiler and creating a brûlée top made it sound even more desirable so I tried it and loved it. But it still wasn’t something I was going to do for my blog since it seemed the rest of the world was already sharing it.
So I ate it and kept silent and then I sort of forgot about it…until last week. As is pretty much standard practice in my kitchen, circumstance built this recipe for me. I had some gorgeous pink grapefruit from a gift basket and when I went to grab the granulated sugar for the top, I noticed the bottle of rum from a different recipe still on the counter-top. In no more than a nano second I thought some rum might be a fun addition. From there I moved towards combining brown sugar with butter and cinnamon instead of granulated sugar and, well, here we are.
What I love about this is how very easy it is and yet, with that ease comes a result that elevates a plain grapefruit to nirvana. Even if you’re a teetotaler, the switch to brown sugar alone is a step in a new and wonderful direction. Adding some cinnamon? Just enough to add some welcome spice to the mixture. While I’m not a betting person; I’m thinking this blend of ingredients could get heretofore unwilling grapefruit eaters to change their mind.
Rum and Brown Sugar Broiled Grapefruit
Ingredients
- 2 large grapefruits well chilled
- ¼ cup dark rum
- ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 2 Tbs. unsalted butter melted
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 4 Maraschino cherries
Instructions
- Preheat broiler.
- Cut each grapefruit in half crosswise. If necessary, cut a small amount off the bottom of each grapefruit so that it can stand upright and level.
- Loosen the grapefruit segments in each half with a knife by cutting between the fruit and the peel and then by cutting along either side of each segment to free it from the membrane. Leave all the segments in their shells. Place the halves upright in a baking dish.
- Brush the cut halves of each grapefruit with the rum. In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, butter and cinnamon.
- Sprinkle the brown sugar mixture evenly over the grapefruit halves and put under the broiler (about 4 inches from the heat) and broil until the sugar is uniformly bubbly, 2 to 3 minutes. Watch carefully.
- Transfer each grapefruit half to an individual dish and garnish with a cherry. Serve immediately.
Yup, sugar-glazed grapefruit is so over, it’s time for it to come around again! You may be starting a trend. 🙂 It is good stuff, isn’t it? Haven’t had this in years — need to make some again.
Right? Of course I had to pump it up a bit with rum but it was worth it. I’ll always add booze if I can. 🙂