Cinnamon-Honey Grapefruit

The kitchen is in full spring mode. The oven at 375 (always 375), the crockpot on the counter, the pantry stocked with jars from last August's canning — the evidence of a woman who preserves summer against winter and loss against forgetting and food against everything.

The recipe this week: pot roast with more carrots. Standing at the stove, Marlene's wooden spoon in my hand (the cracked one, the one that will outlast us all), the recipe either from the card box or from my own expanding collection, both equally real, both equally mine. The kitchen holds all of it — the old recipes and the new ones, the teacher's food and the student's food, the grief and the joy and the cinnamon. All of it. Always.

Seed starting continues at the Holloway household — the windowsill green, the grow lights purple, the soil mix precise. The annual miracle of February and March: things grow even when everything says they shouldn't. The growing is the argument against everything.

I wrote “the grief and the joy and the cinnamon” and then I just sat with it for a minute, because that’s exactly right — cinnamon is the through-line, the thing that shows up in the pot roast and the seed-starting season and every jar Marlene ever put up. So this week’s recipe had to be this one: Cinnamon-Honey Grapefruit, which is barely a recipe at all and exactly a recipe, the way the best things are. It’s what I made myself on a Tuesday morning before the grow lights came on, standing at the counter in the quiet, and it tasted like the argument for everything.

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 5 minutes | Total Time: 10 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 large ruby red grapefruits, halved crosswise
3 tablespoons honey (local wildflower if you have it)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into 4 small pieces (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the broiler. Set your oven to broil and position a rack about 6 inches from the heat source. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.
Prepare the grapefruit. Using a small serrated knife or grapefruit knife, loosen each segment from the membrane so the flesh is easy to scoop after cooking. Place halves cut-side up on the prepared baking sheet.
Add the toppings. Drizzle each half with honey — about 3/4 tablespoon per half. Dust generously with cinnamon and a small pinch of flaky sea salt. If using butter, lay one small piece in the center of each half.
Broil. Slide the pan under the broiler and cook for 4 to 6 minutes, watching closely, until the honey is bubbling and the edges of the grapefruit are just beginning to caramelize and turn golden. The surface should look lacquered and fragrant.
Rest and serve. Remove from the oven and let sit for 1 to 2 minutes — the fruit holds heat and the honey will continue to set slightly. Serve warm in the rind, with a spoon.

Nutrition (per serving)

Cinnamon-Honey Grapefruit — The Word at the End of Everything