Jokingly, I told Tristan that upon moving into our new aprtment, my first order of business would be to get a little Christmas tree. Strangely, once we moved, my priorities shifted slightly — suddenly I was more concerned about getting a real mattress (off the floor!), and having vegetables in the fridge. But Tristan took me seriously, and a week after the move he delighted me by suggesting that we best go pick out a tree.

So, with my priorities straightened out, we’ve been settling in nicely. We hosted our first little shindig the weekend before Christmas and it was so fun to see our friends in a place we’re calling ours.

Surprisingly, I didn’t feel like cooking a lot when we first moved in. Our little kitchen is lovely enough, with pretty backsplash and teeny bit of counterspace, but I somehow avoided getting comfortable there for the first few days. I’ll attribute my lack of kitchen activity to the holiday season, with parties, family dinners and too many cookies for breakfast. With the festivities winding down, I am looking forward to getting used to fickle oven temperatures and whisking egg whites to stiff peaks by hand (holy heck, it’s a good workout!).

Since T & I both just moved out of our parents’ homes, we were lucky to be sent off with an impressive amount of citrus fruits along with secondhand furniture. Our first weekend we were fully stocked on booze (connoisseur Tristan’s), Sriracha (one of our first purchases), and grapefruit (thanks, parents!). This zingy grapefruit pudding was the first thing I baked in our new digs.

Pink Grapefruit & Ricotta Pudding
Serves 6-8

I adapted this recipe from the now-abandoned blog When Harry Met Salad. It was one of the first blogs I stumbled upon after signing up on WordPress and browsing through their “recommended” food blogs. Being such a big fan of the movie, the name of the blog has always stuck with me, and this recipe was one that jumped out almost four years ago. After finally trying it out, I was not disappointed. It’s one of those desserts that work equally well as breakfast.

3 cups pink grapefruit juice (juice from approx. 3 grapefruits)
1 cup sugar
⅓ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
1 cup milk
¾ cup ricotta cheese
grated zest from two grapefruits
4 eggs, separated
½ cup sliced almonds
powdered sugar for dusting
Optional: a sprig or two of thyme

Preheat your oven to 350°F and butter a 10” baking pan or dish.

In a small saucepan, leave the grapefruit juice to simmer over medium heat until it is reduced to ½ cup, about 30-40 minutes. Once reduced, let the juice cool completely (toss it in the fridge to speed up that process).

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the cooled grapefruit juice, milk, ricotta cheese, zest and egg yolks. Pour the grapefruit juice mixture into the dry ingredients, and combine evenly.

In a third bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the rest of the mixture gently.

Pour into your prepared baking dish, and (optionally) sprinkle the top with sliced almonds, and a sprig or two of thyme.

Bake until pudding is set but still slightly jiggly, and top is golden – approximately 25-30 minutes. To avoid large cracks forming once pudding has baked, turn off the oven, prop the door open with a wooden spoon, and leave the pudding inside for another half hour or so.

Let cool for five minutes and dust with icing sugar before serving. Tastes lovely warm or cold.

I hope the holidays have been wonderful and warm for you and yours. xo