Key Lime Pie and other Outer Banks foods

Late last month the Virginian Pilot voted the key lime pie at the Kill Devil Grille on the Outer Banks as the best restaurant key lime pie in the area (a home cook actually won, and her recipe follows). So when we made what will probably be our last trip to the beach for 2007, we decided to swing by and give it a try. And I have to say, it was a fabulous slice of pie.

Kill Devil Grille makes it's key lime pie in a spring-form pan, and as a result each slice is a generous 2-inches high, about twice as tall as a pie made in a typical pie pan. It came served on a plate dusted with powdered sugar and garnished with strawberry sauce and a dollop of fresh whipped cream.

Unlike most key lime pie recipes made with a graham cracker crust, Kill Devil Grille uses crushed vanilla waffers as the base for its crust. And the filling, made with both fresh and bottled juice, was creamy and perfectly sweet-tart. In fact, this pie was neck and neck with the home-made entry in the Pilot until it came to the last category: value. While it was certainly a value at $5 a slice, there's no way it could beat out a homemade pie for cost.

While the Pilot didn't publish the recipe for the Kill Devil Grille pie, they did have a recipe for the homemade pie from that beat it out:

Katie Reid's Key Lime Pie
Graham cracker crust
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
Filling
6 egg yolks
28 ounces (2 cans) sweetened, condensed milk
1 cup Key lime juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Mix crust ingredients and pat into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate with the back of a spoon. It's easier to pat the sides into place first and then the bottom.
In a large mixing bowl, beat egg yolks with condensed milk and lime juice. Pour into prepared crust. Bakes for 30 minutes. Serve chilled. Whipped cream may be put on top.
(Note for a different taste, beat egg whites until firm. Add 1/2 cup sugar gradually. Put meringue on pie and bake for another five minutes until meringue is golden.)


In one of the Outer Banks magazines I picked up also included some seafood recipes from other famous Outer Banks restaurants.

Miss O's Crab Cakes (compliments of Clara Mae Shannon, Owens' Restaurant)
1 lb. jumbo lump crabmeat
3 Tbs. mayo
1 tsp. Worcestershire
1 tsp. celery salt
1 egg
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
Dash of Tobasco sauce
3 Tbl. fresh breadcrumbs
Butter, for pan
Fresh lemon slices, for serving
Pick over crabmeat and carefully remove any remaining shells or cartilage. Do not break large lumps.
Gently whisk mayo, Worcestershire, celerey salt, egg, Tobasco and dry mustard. Fold mixture into crabmeat by hand, again being careful not to break lumps. Sprinkle with fresh breadcrumbs and fold gently to distribute.
Refrigerate 10 minutes. Form into cakes. Pan saute in butter over medium heat until done, about 3 minutes on each side. Serve with a squeeze of fresh lemon.

Awful Arthur's Garlic Shrimp and Crab (compliments of Chef Kenny McLean)
2 lbs. lump crabmeat, picked through
2 lbs. 36/40 shrimp, peeled
1 batch white wine garlic butter (recipe to follow)
paprika
Preheat oven to 375 F. Divide the crab evenly among eight gratin dishes. Top with shrimp. Dot the butter on top of the crab and shrimp. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake in the oven until the shrimp is just cooked and the tops are barely browned, about 8 to 10 minutes.

White Wine Garlic Butter
1 lb. unsalted butter, softened
1 oz. dried parsley flakes
1/2 tsp. black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. lemon juice, fresh squeezed
1 oz. white wine
1/2 tsp. Old Bay
Whip together all the ingredients until evenly incorporated.

Coming next: Recipes for Spinach Florentine Sauce from the Flying Fish Cafe and North Carolina Wild-Caught Shrimp and Penne Pasta with Tomato Orange Sauce from The Lifesaving Station Restaurant at teh Sanderling REsort and Spa in Duck.