Post-Christmas fruity breakfast - an update via my mum

So, my mum emails me to tell me I got it all wrong. That fruit salad was not the fruit salad she made at all. She has however, sent me corrections, and here is her original recipe, which is, I think, an improvement on my rather slapdash 'recipe'. It turns out there are limes. And blood oranges. Who knew? But even better for this time of year with all its lovely citrus fruit.

2 limes

4oz sugar (think I used a little less) 

2 pink grapefruit

3-4 blood oranges

450g fresh or tinned lychees   

Peel the limes very thinly, place the peel, sugar and 250ml water in saucepan and bring to boil, take off heat and leave to infuse for 15 mins.  Remove the peel and add the juice of the limes to the syrup. Peel and segment the grapefruit and oranges, removing pith and skin.  Drain the tinned lychees, mix fruit together and pour over syrup.  Serve hot or cold.

Mum says that as well as breakfast, it is also pretty darn good after a hot curry.

Deliciousness squared. With thanks to my lovely mum and her vast recipe store.

The compulsory post-Christmas fruity breakfast post

So, grapefruit is bad for us. Or at least it may be bad for some of us, if we're taking certain medicines.

Like so many of these stories (coffee, tea, red wine, chocolate, burnt toast etc etc) you have to read between the lines to see what's really going on. This story came along just a day or two after I was having a conversation with Mr Breakfast about how the grapefruit seems to have fallen out of favour. I remember a time when half a grapefruit with half a glace cherry on top if you were feeling really fancy was considered the dieter's dream breakfast. I love grapefruit - especially the pink ones. I even love the tinned segments that you get in B&Bs - a big bowl of them with a dollop of natural yogurt. Or sprinkled with demerara sugar and grilled until the sugar bubbles. Mmmm.

My mum made this salad for me once when I was staying with her and it's remained a favourite of mine ever since. It's lovely on a hot morning (ha), or on a day when you may have over-indulged a little - so ideal for post-Christmas slump days. The flavours are really bright - the lovely zingy grapefruit contrasts well with the perfumed lychees. You can make it with all fresh fruit, or if you're feeling lazy (and lychee peeling does get rather tedious, I'll admit), it's also good with tinned grapefruit and lychees. If using tinned grapefruit, make sure it's in juice.

I eat it on its own, with natural yogurt, or with a sprinkling of nice granola on top. I won't be precise with quantities - it depends how the fruit comes in the supermarket and on your own preferences/budget. It'll keep OK in the fridge for a day or so, and it's best if you can chill it for a while before eating (say overnight). It's not really even a recipe, truth be told, just a suggestion for some fruits to fling together for breakfast.

Fruit salad

Lychees, tinned or fresh
A couple of pink grapefruit (or tinned grapefruit segments)
A bunch of red grapes. Or green if you don't like red. Make them seedless grapes anyway.

1 Peel the lychees if using fresh and cut in half.
2 Peel and segment the grapefruit. If you are being truly diligent, I guess you should probably take each segment from its skin too, but I don't usually bother. If the grapefruit is large, cut segments in half.
3 Halve the grapes.
4. If using tinned fruit, just open and pour into a bowl and add the grapes. You may want to drain off some of the juice first.
5. Erm, that's it.

Some other fruity breakfast combinations:

Watermelon and chopped fresh mint
A mixture of melon types (canteloupe/honeydew/charenetais/watermelon) with lime zest, lime juice and a little honey
Red grapes, blueberries and cherries
A mixture of oranges (bloods orange and new season oranges) and grapefruit (pink/yellow)
Chilled stewed early pink rhubarb with greek yogurt and a drizzle of honey (I stew mine in a little orange juice and zest)

What's your favourite fruit combination for breakfast?