day one - key lime pie

I live most of the year in San Jose Del Cabo, the weather is almost perfect every day, until it turns into a burning infierno, and then it is not.  I work in an amazing atmosphere as a private chef in an exclusive resort for one very nice family and I do some catering when they are not in town.  This sounds good, right? Well I am totally restless and discontent just like everyone else.  
Or maybe its just me, but that's how I am.   
I have decided what better way to pass the time than to give away all of my personal secrets, as well as a few of my favorite recipes.

KEY LIME PIE

This particular key lime pie was made in Nantucket for my bosses to take with them to a dinner party at John Kerrys, kinda cool..

(FYI when attempting to re-create any of the disclosed recipes, always remember a heavy handed dash of common sense)

you will need:

1 spring form pan 8-9 inches

graham crackers or other plain cookie (marias doradas work great, found in Mexican markets)

sweetened condensed milk

eggs

butter

small tart limes (Mexican limes or key limes) 

lets do this:

pre-heat oven to 325

grind graham crackers of cookies in food processor or blender

melt 1 stick of butter in microwave (glass only please)

in your spring form pan, please make sure that the bottom is securely in the little rudders put 3 measured cups of cookie crumb and the 8oz. of melted butter work through with your fingers and then press into the bottom of the pan, leaving a nice thick bottom, but also pushing up a small lip around the edge of the bottom of the pan.

empty 4 cans of sweetened condensed milk into a large bowl 

it is much easier and less time consuming to completely remove the lids from the cans so that you can use a spatula to quickly get all of that sweet love into your bowl.

zest 1 lime right into the sweet milk

take your now bare naked lime + probably about 20 more and squeeze enough juice to fill an empty can of sweetened condensed milk

strain this lime juice into your milk/zest mixture

add 2 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks

fold or whisk these ingredients together and pour into prepared pie crust

bake 15-20 minutes until just set, but not browning around the edges.

while baking make the lime curd

if your pie stays to long in the oven and comes out a bit caramelized of worse yet 'breaks' (which in the case of a key lime pie it looks kind of curdled), you can totally disguise your mistake by adding extra whipped cream and curd.  I have found that this stuff makes everything taste amazing, it's kind of like ranch dressing? for desserts.

to increase the chances of not overcooking your pie, be very careful to keep the oven at a nice low temperature.

LIME CURD:

in a non-reactive saucepan

2 cups white sugar

3/4 cup lime juice

dash of salt

6 egg yolks

whisk over low heat until thickened

remove from heat

add 1 teaspoon lime zest

4oz. butter

set aside to cool

whip fresh heavy cream until soft peaks form

you can add a little sugar to the cream, but I never do

when you serve the slices of key lime pie

place a dollop of whipped cream on top of the pie and drizzle the curd/sauce over the top.

that's it, first secret out on the table

don't worry they will get better, I'm just getting started.