Grapefruit meringue pie

1. Crust: work the flour, sugar, vanilla pod seeds, and butter until crumbly and well-combined, then add the egg yolks. Work the dough quickly, form into a ball, and chill.
2. Filling: Peel the grapefruit zest, chop finely, blanch twice and then cook in a pan of boiling water with the sugar for ten minutes.
3. Squeeze the grapefruit to obtain 15 cl (⅔ cup) of juice.
4. Whisk the egg yolks with the grapefruit juice, lemon juice, whole eggs, and sugar, then bring to the boil. Cook until the mixture thickens.
5. Remove from heat and cool until it reaches 30°C (86°F), then blend in the cold, diced butter with a blender. 
6. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
7. Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F)
8. Roll out the dough to a thickness of about 3 mm (⅛ inch). Place in your buttered pie plate, prick with a fork and bake for 15 min (with pie weights inside to keep the crust from puffing up), then remove the weights and continue baking for 5 min. Let cool.
9. Meringue: Cook sugar and water at 121°C (250°F). Beat the egg whites until stiff, then pour the hot sugar syrup over the egg whites and beat again until they are glossy and almost cold (the meringue should form stiff peaks).
10. Presentation: Spread the grapefruit filling over the baked crust base, top with the Italian meringue and dust with powdered sugar.
11. Brown for 5 min in the oven on the broil setting and garnish with your candied zest before serving.

Pascale's tip:

You can decorate your pie with peeled grapefruit segments as shown in the photo.