A-Z of treats: Key lime pie

K is for Key Lime Pie, a flagship of America's intensely rich desserts (like Pecan Pie and Mississippi Mud Pie). It achieved notoriety in recent years when novelist Nora Ephron selected it as a dinner party custard pie to bring her novel of marriage and betrayal, Heartburn, to a tragi-comic climax. In the film, Jack Nicholson, as the adulterous husband, gets it in the face.

In London you'll find Key Lime Pie on the menu at the Chicago Rib Shack, in Knightsbridge. This is the restaurant's own recipe:

KEY LIME PIE

Serves 8

For the base:

6oz digestive biscuits,

crushed to crumbs

3oz melted butter

2 1/2 oz sugar

For the filling:

8oz butter, diced

6oz sugar

4 whole eggs

and two egg yolks

juice of about 4 limes (6fl oz)

grated zest of 2 limes

(a tablespoon)

1/2 pint whipping cream

1 tablespoon clear honey

You will need a 7in pie plate, 1 1/2 -2in deep, preferably with a fluted rim and removable base. In a bowl, mix biscuit crumbs, butter and sugar. Pat into the tart tin to make the base, and chill.

In a round-bottomed bowl whisk together the whole eggs and yolks, sugar, lime juice and zest. Place over a saucepan half- filled with simmering water and whisk until thick. Off heat, whisk in butter. Pour into crust and chill to set. Cut into eight. Whip the cream until firm, adding honey. Serve with whipped cream and lime wedge.