The Keys Are Calling. Fire Up the Grill for These Conch Republic Recipes. 

I was down in the Middle Keys last weekend working on a story for the next issue of Flamingo on how visitors are pitching in to save the reefs. I ate well while I was there: ceviche with a tangy tomato base, crispy rice with a dome of shrimp salad, spiny lobster over coconut rice. And then there was a fan of tuna slices with radishes and beansprouts that was just so darn pretty I broke out the selfie light I use to capture the best dishes.  

It’s something of an off-season for the Keys this time of year, but the place I was staying, Three Waters Resort & Marina, was still nearly full, the cars in the parking lot mostly Florida license plates. If you’ve lived in Florida long enough, the Keys become something of your own little escape—renting a house in the mangroves for a quiet family weekend, meeting the old buds for a guys’ trip with lots of fishing and cheap beers dockside or heading all the way down for a taste of the food, the island vibes and the dive bars of Key West. I’ll take a bit of it all.  

Now, back home in Miami, I have an urge to cook more of the food I had down there, something that often happens after a trip. I never seek out fresh catch to cook at home, even though I’m no farther from the source, and so it got me thinking about trying to fix that.  

Digging back in the Flamingo archives—there are 10 years of them now—we’ve published many ways to make home cooking taste more like a meal you would find in this Sunshine State island chain. Honestly, I probably won’t ever fry fish myself, but I am going to try this Key lime beurre blanc on a hefty piece of grilled snapper. This cold noodle dish from Boia De is one I’ve made many times on hot nights, swapping the stone crab for blue crab or shrimp cut lengthwise just so they look pretty placed on top. After a few dinner parties over the years, I’ve carried back into the dining room a round of these Key lime pie cocktails; not being much of a dessert person, I’ll opt for a good after-dinner cocktail. But if you’d rather end a meal with actual pie, we’ve got a can’t-fail version here.  

If you’re not a cook but still want to feel like you’re in the Keys, try this story I wrote a few years back about the history of the Key lime pie, which takes the kind of weird Florida turns you’d expect in a Carl Hiaasen novel.  

Spoiler alert here, but the kicker at the end of the article is that the Key lime pie might just be the most authentic of American foods. Just like, I suppose, there’s nothing more Floridian than a getaway to the Keys, even if all it entails is your backyard, a hot grill, a fresh catch and a nice Key lime beurre blanc.  

---

To never miss one of Eric Barton’s culinary endeavors, subscribe to Flamingo’s Key Lime newsletter.

---