Sunday, March 19, 2006

Strawberry Key Lime Pie

Don’t Anyone Get Between Me And My Key Lime Juice


Did you know that you can make a WHOLE Key Lime Pie in less than 30 minutes?

Did you know that you can make a WHOLE Key Lime Pie for about $6.00?

Further, if you are a cheep-skate like me and you don't mind making your own pie crust, did you know that you can cut the cost down to about $4.50.

That said, does anyone but me wonder why the heck a slice of Key Lime Pie costs you $5.00 in most restaurants?

Maybe they have to send someone to fly each day down to Key West and pick their own little Key limes and escort them back to their kitchen or something. That could explain the cost.

And why are these expensive pie slices colored GREEN?

The natural color of a Key Lime Pie comes out pale yellow when I make one.

Is the green color the result of radioactivity, or possibly food coloring?

Then again, maybe the high cost is due to labor.

I know from personal experience that juicing those little suckers (key limes) requires the patience of Job. The seeds are tiny and almost impossible to pick out of the juice without a fine mesh strainer, and it takes over a dozen of the little suckers to get an entire pie’s worth of juice.

I gave up juicing little limes last year once I found out that I could drive over to the grocery store and buy a bottle of Nellie and Joe’s Famous Key West Lime Juice.

This stuff is WONDERFUL.

One 16 fluid ounce bottle is said to contain the juice of at least 26 key limes. Based on my experience, it seems more like about 4 dozen of the tiny, tart citrus fruits.

Any way, I got bored last week and started thinking about doing something a little different with Key Lime Juice, and as usual—a trip to the grocery store was the answer.

What I found was that they are practically giving away Florida strawberries right now, so I bought two big packages of berries along with some other stuff, and a new form of Key Lime Pie resulted.

This recipe is EXTREMELY simple, so don’t blink your eyes or you’ll miss it.

All you need are these Ingrediants:

½ cup of Key Lime Juice
(1) 14 oz can Eaglebrand Sweetened Condensed Milk
(3) egg yolks
(1) cup pureed strawberries (drained well)

Sliced strawberrys and/or sliced kiwi fruit for garnish
A few leafs of fresh mint for garnish

(1) 8” or 9” pie crust (I used a Nabisco “Nilla” Pie crust)


You ready to make a pie now?

Fire up your oven and set the temperature at 350 degrees F. Stir everything together, dump it into the pie crust, and bake for 20 minutes.

How simple is that?

Chill your pie for a few hours, slice it up, put it on chilled plates, and garnish it with the sliced strawberries, kiwi, and mint sprigs. Now grab yourself a fork and EAT!


Enjoy Y’all,

The Redneck Gourmet

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tip on the pies.

Wendi Weisenburger Brandon said...

I am going to try this...sounds yummy.

Anonymous said...

The flavor was great, but my pie didn't set; it was way too runny. Adding the 1 cup of strawberry puree to the basic key lime pie recipe, really is adding a lot more liquid. Is there a trick you know to make the filling thicker? Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Try this oneIngredients

2 cans Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk (low fat may be used) shopping list
1/2 cup key lime juice
9 inch Keebler brand graham cracker crust (or make your own)
2 pints fresh strawberries, sliced
1/2 teaspoon each tequila and Grand Marnier, or to taste
6 egg yolks
1 cup whipping cream
1/8 cup sugar
additional sugar for the cream
How to make it

Place the condensed milk into a bowl. Add the sic egg yolks and mix thoroughly. Add the Key lime juice slowly. Blend well, but don't overmix. In a blender, put one pint of the sliced strawberries and blend to a puree. Add 1/2 cup of the puree to the milk and egg mixture.
Heat oven to 300 degrees. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool. Then chill for a couple of hours.
To the remaining puree, add 1/8 cup of sugar. Add half of the remaining sliced strawberries. Cut the pie into individual slices. Top the pie portions with the sauce. Whip the cream, add the tequila and the Grand Marnier to taste. Sweeten just to taste. Top the pie with the cream, add the remaining strawberry slices as a garnish.
Note:This can also be made with papaya or mango
People Who Like This Dish 8