Grapefruit Pie From the Movie, “Truly Texas Mexican”
Absolutely awesome grapefruit pie celebrates Texas Ruby Red grapefruits. It’s a recipe that artist Celeste De Luna shared with me during the filming of our award-winning documentary, “Truly Texas Mexican, now streaming on Amazon Prime Movies.
Celeste De Luna is a native of the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas. I visited her art studio in Harlingen, Texas where I filmed her baking this pie and speaking eloquently about cooking as an artistic practice and also about life and issues in the often misunderstood Texas Mexico landscape.
Celeste now lives in San Antonio, but she was living in Harlingen when we filmed her interview. Her home and studio were surrounded by acres upon acres of grapefruit orchards. Luckily for me, she had made this unique pie and served me a slice. The first bite—its taste so new and unexpected—blew my mind. The flavor is a burst of bright, natural freshness.
About Grapefruits
Grapefruit begin to mature and sweeten in late October; so by Thanksgiving they’re ready to enjoy. Celeste makes this pie every Thanksgiving and it’s now one of her family’s traditions. There are other varieties of red grapefruits, but Ruby Red is the original red grapefruit. It appeared almost miraculously in 1929, as an unexpected budsport, a mutation that sometimes occurs on a single branch of a tree (Da Graca, et al., 2004).
Before that time, the flesh in grapefruits was either white or pink, and sour, limiting its popularity. But the Ruby Red’s beautiful sweet flesh made it such a commercial success that it gave rise to the citrus industry in the Rio Grande Valley. Other red varieties have been developed since then, and they are so popular that the red grapefruit is the official Texas state fruit.
I suggest Ruby Red for Celeste’s recipe, but any red grapefruit will work. I like it with a buttery pie crust, so try my crust recipe below and you’ll be rewarded with a crust that surpasses the taste of store-bought crusts. I hope that you will love this pie as much as I do, and thank Celeste for sharing it.
Recipe for Grapefruit Pie
This recipe is re-printed with permission from the history/cookbook, “Don’t Count The Tortillas” published by Texas Tech University Press, and appears in the Rio Grande Valley sequence of the award-winning film, “Truly Texas Mexican,” now streaming on Amazon Prime Movies.
Ingredients (makes one 9-inch pie)
For the Filling
4 large Ruby Red (or other available red) grape-fruits, peeled and sectioned
1 3⁄4 cup red grapefruit juice, fresh squeezed from 2 grapefruits (adding water if needed to make 1 3⁄4 cups)
1 cup granulated sugar\
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 envelope unflavored powdered gelatin (1 table- spoon or 1⁄4 ounce by weight)
1⁄4 cup water
For the Crust
1 1⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1⁄2 inch cubes 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
3 to 5 tablespoons ice water
Method
To make the pie crust
1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. In a food processor, place the flour, salt, and butter cubes and pulse 3 times so that the mixture looks like coarse meal. Pulse once more if needed.
3. Drizzle 3 tablespoons ice water over the mixture and then pulse until a dough begins to form and stick together. If the dough needs more water to stick together, add 1 tablespoon at a time.
4. When the dough is formed, turn it onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into four portions. Take each portion and smear it on the surface with the heel of your palm, in a forward motion. Do this twice so that the butter is distributed well. After you’ve smeared all four portions, combine and mold them into a 5-inch disk. Wrap in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour. It’ll keep in the fridge for up to three days.
5. On a well-floured surface, using a well-floured rolling pin, roll out the dough to make a 13 1⁄2- to 14-inch round. Place it in a pie pan, trim off the excess dough and crimp the edges. If there’s a tear in the pastry, use some of the excess dough to patch it up. If you have time, chill the pie shell for one hour. If not, proceed to Step 6.
6. With a fork, pierce the bottom and sides of the crust so steam won’t form bubbles. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the crust is a golden brown. Let the crust cool completely.
To Prepare the Filling
7. Peel the grapefruit using a sharp knife. Start by slicing off the top and bottom (north and south of the orb) revealing the red flesh. Lay the grapefruit flat on one of the cut edges and slice, top to bottom, all around it, to cut off all the skin and white pith. The pith is bitter, so review your work to make sure you’ve removed all of it.
8. To section the grapefruit, use a sharp knife to make an incision just inside the membrane on both sides of each section, then with the knife remove the section that has become dislodged. The membranes are bitter, so make sure none remain attached to the sections. You’ll get the hang of it and quickly become an expert. When you’ve sectioned all the grapefruits, set aside.
9. In a small bowl, add 1⁄4 cup water and sprinkle the gelatin evenly on the surface of the water. Set aside and let the gelatin rehydrate. This will take 5 to 10 minutes.
10. While the gelatin is soaking, combine the grapefruit juice, sugar, salt, and cornstarch in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until it begins to boil. When it begins to boil, stop stirring and cook it for one more minute until the mixture thickens and becomes clear. Remove it from the heat and very gently stir in the rehydrated gelatin until completely combined. With the spoon, check to see that there are no lumps. Let it cool so that it begins to thicken.
To Assemble the Pie
11. Spoon some of the slightly thickened gelatin into the pie shell, making a 1⁄2-inch layer, then place in the refrigerator for an hour to set. Remove from the refrigerator and arrange the grapefruit slices on top of the gelatin layer, in circular fashion. Pour the rest of the gelatin mixture to fill the pie shell and place in the refrigerator to set, 3 to 4 hours or overnight.
Food lovers who viewed the movie, “Truly Texas Mexican,” ask me what it tastes like. I tell them—-“It tastes like sunshine!”
SOURCES:
Da Graca, J., Louzada, E., & Sauls, J. W. (2004, Janu- ary). “The Origins of Red Pigmented Grapefruits and the Development of New Varieties.” Proceedings of the International Society for Citriculture, International Society of Citriculture, pp. 369–374.