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Queens Eats: Limefest and Chelsea Market

This week's column involves a trip to Chelsea Market and three recipes with key lime.

Last Sunday, a day after the freak early spring snowfall, I decided to take advantage of the marginally warmer weather and head to one of my favorite foodie destinations in Manhattan—Chelsea Market.

For those of you who haven’t been, Chelsea Market is a food lover’s dream. Housed in the former sprawling confines of the National Biscuit Company, the main level houses food stalls and restaurants selling everything from Thai food, artisanal cheese, Aussie meat pies, crepes and gelato to unique spices, cooking ware, books and home furnishings from Morocco. Heck, it even hosts sample sales and is home to an Anthropologie outpost. The upper levels of the building house offices including the Food Network headquarters.

On this particular trip, I was sad to see that my favorite spot—The Lobster Place—was closed, but the Chelsea Market website tells me that it’s being renovated and slated to reopen this spring. Fingers crossed. My culinary companion and I split a gruyere and pickle panini from Lucy’s Whey and roasted potatoes from BuonItalia. Nothing fancy or too out of the ordinary, but they didn’t disappoint.

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In one of the Market’s produce stores, we spotted key limes, which, of course, conjured up all sorts of pleasant warm-weather memories of my recent trip to Florida. We purchased a bag, which led to, you guessed it, Limefest 2013.

Immediately when we returned to Queens, and purchased some additional necessary ingredients, we made Key Lime Mojitos, Salmon with Key Lime Butter, and the piece de resistance, Key Lime Pie. Need I say more? Besides being delicious, the beauty of Limefest was the ability to reuse the limes in every dish, a hallmark of a savvy chef.

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Key Lime Mojitos (Source: Martha Stewart Living)

Note: This yields 10 servings. Cut down ingredients proportionally.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups light rum

3/4 cup fresh lime juice

3/4 cup fresh key lime juice

3/4 to 1 cup confectioners' sugar (I used standard sugar)

3 3/4 cups club soda

10 large sprigs fresh mint, about 4 to 6 leaves each

Crushed ice

Key lime wedges, for garnish

Directions

  1. In a large pitcher, combine rum, lime juices, and sugar. Stir until sugar has dissolved. Stir in club soda.
  2. Place mint springs in each of 10 glasses. Using the back of a spoon, crush mint leaves.
  3. Add crushed ice to glasses. Divide rum mixture between glasses. Garnish with lime wedges. Serve immediately.

Grilled Salmon with Key Lime Butter (Source: Paula Deen, Food Network)

Ingredients

5 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons key lime juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets
Cooked pasta or rice

Directions

1. Prepare grill by lightly oiling grill grate over medium-high heat.

2. In a small saucepan, melt butter add lime juice. Salt and pepper the salmon fillets modestly on both sides. Place fillets onto grill, brush half of lime butter over salmon. Grill salmon for two to three minutes per side for medium-rare. Drizzle remaining lime butter over salmon before serving. Serve with pasta or rice.

Easy Key Lime Pie (Source: AllRecipes.com)

Ingredients

5 egg yolks, beaten

1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

½ cup key lime juice (I used regular lime juice, and squeezed in some key lime juice)

1 9 oz. prepared graham cracker crust

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Combine egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk and lime juice. Mix well. Pour into unbaked graham cracker shell.
  3. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Allow to cool. Top with whipped cream and limes, if desired.

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