Mariquitas & Mojo (Plantain Chips & Sauce) by Eddie Rodriguez - from "Cooking at Homeplate with the Arizona Diamondbacks" (2003)

 

RECIPE

MARIQUITAS - Mariquitas is the Cuban name for a crisp-fried green plaintain chip.

4 cups vegetable oil

2 large green plaintains

salt or garlic salt

Peel the plaintains with a sharp knife, slash the skin of each plantain once lengthwise. On each side of the plantain, take the skin off by opening it away from the center as if you were taking off a coat.

Once the plantains are peeled, slice lengthwise as thinly as possible on to a plate. Add sliced plantains to hot oil.

Use a deep skillet. Pour oil and heat to 350 degrees.

Fry the strips until golden brown, turning them. Drain the strips on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt or garlic salt and serve. (They are at their best when just fried.)

4 Servings.

MOJO - Mojo is a Cuban marinating sauce. Can be used for meats and vegetables alike. Mojo is Cuba's national table sauce.

1/3 cup vegetable oil

5 garlic cloves, peeled, thinly sliced or minced

1/2 cup sour orange juice or lime juice

salt and ground black pepper, to taste

In a saucepan add vegetable oil,  garlic, sour orange juice or lime juice, salt and black ground pepper to taste. Bring the sauce to a boil.

Serve warm. 

Makes 1 cup.

Add the Mojo to the Mariquitas to your liking.

Cuban-born Eddie Rodriguez is a long-time coach who has travelled many roads.  After playing as a shortstop in the minor-league systems of Baltimore and California, he went on to coach for the Angels, Blue Jays, the U.S. Olympic Team, the Diamondbacks, Expos and Nationals.  He managed a Mariners' minor league affiliate in 2007, and joined the Padres' coaching staff in 2016.

True to his roots, he submitted this recipe for the Arizona Diamondbacks' 2003 cookbook.  It's a quick method for frying up unripened plantains into a tasty, chippy snack.

The directions tell you to slice the plaintains "as thinly as possible" but I went with a thicker cut.  The end result was less of a crispy chip and more akin to french fries, thick and lightly browned on the outside, soft on the inside. 

The citrus-garlic sauce goes very well as a dipping sauce, bringing all kinds of flavours together: sweet and salty plantains with a hit of lime and garlic.  Fantastic! 

Florida Marlins Summer Salad by H. Wayne Huizenga - from "Munchin' With the Marlins Cookbook" (1995)

RECIPE

1 lb. torn spinach, freshly washed and drained

1 can drained mandarin oranges

1 cup alfalfa sprouts

generous sprinkle of sunflower seeds

Dressing

2 tbsp. cider vinegar

3 tsp. dijon mustard

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/4 cup honey

1 tsp. salt

1 small onion, chopped

2 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 cup oil

Arrange salad ingredients in a large salad bowl for tossing or make individual salads.  Keep salad refrigerated until served.  Blend all ingredients in blender for 30 seconds.  Serves 6.

Born in 1993, the Florida Marlins' early days were all about optimism and teal.  Teal hats, teal pinstripes, teal on all their merchandise.

The Marlins joined the team cookbook club in 1995 with Munchin' With the Marlins, a nice collection of recipes from players and personnel.  Then-owner Wayne Huizenga offered up this recipe for a summer salad.  Huizenga came from a family of businessmen and was best known as the man behind Blockbuster Video and AutoNation.  He had a hand in three sports franchises in the Sunshine State, owning the Miami Dolphins and bringing both the Florida Panthers and Florida Marlins into existence as their first owner.

As owner of the Marlins, Huizenga assembled the club that won the 1997 World Series.  Then, like so many baseball owners, he cried poor and dismantled the championship team in a "fire sale".  The 1998 Marlins went 54-108 and were the first club to lose 100 games a year after winning a World Series.  Not long after, Huizenga sold the club.

The ingredients for this salad are easy to throw together and you won't cry poor after assembling them.  The mandarins add a burst of Florida sunshine.  Can't go wrong with this one.

Brandy Slush by Janet K. Hallas - from "Home Plates: Players' Favorite Dishes" (1984)

RECIPE

7 cups water

2 cups sugar

4 tea bags

12 oz orange juice concentrate (frozen)

12 oz lemon juice concentrate (frozen)

2 cups brandy

Mix water and sugar in large pan.  Bring to boil.  Remove from heat.  

Brew tea bags in water/sugar mixture for 5 minutes.  Stir in frozen concentrates and brandy.  Freeze.  

Serve with 7 Up or Mountain Dew.  

Note:One ice cream scoop of slush per 8-10 oz of 7 Up, or can also be used according to taste.  Makes over 30 drinks.

Sweet and citrusy, a drink the colour of Fort Knox Gold.  Definitely needs a straw to get going, but the slush melts quickly enough.  Nice kick from the brandy after a few sips.

Great idea to keep an ice cream bucket or large tupperware container of this slush in the freezer.

Bookshelf - "Home Plates: Players' Favorite Dishes" (1984) by the Oakland Athletics

295 pp. paperback

268 recipes from the wives of players, coaches and management

Even though I have dozens of baseball cookbooks in my collection, I manage to find something unique inside each one.

Sure, after a while you start seeing the same recipes again and again, but there's always at least one that's so unique that you know it was a family favourite.  Or there will be a personal anecdote from a player reminiscing about a dish he loves to eat.  Or a new twist on something familiar that lets you experience food in a new way.

Home Plates: Players' Favorite Dishes, is a cookbook that was compiled and produced by the wives of the 1984 Oakland Athletics.  Proceeds from sales of the book went to the National Kidney Foundation of Northern California.

As baseball cookbooks go, this one is kind of underwhelming.  It's got a lot of recipes, but most of them are uninspiring; the kinds of dishes prepared by people who are not too adventurous in the kitchen.  If you love broccoli casserole, you can try five different recipes here.

However, one section stands out.  There's an entire chapter of recipes for alcoholic punches and cocktails -- definitely not something you find in most other baseball cookbooks.

A lot of these drinks have a fern bar vibe.  Captivated by the idea of boozing it up the way grown ups did back in the 80s, I'll be cranking some Huey Lewis tapes and chilling out with the following icy drinks: 

Brandy Slush

Sangria

Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri 

Chi-Chis

Yellow Rice and Chicken by Kathy Sanguillén - from "A Treasure Chest of Pirate Recipes" (1971)

 

RECIPE

1 fryer [I used a package of chicken thighs]

2 buttons garlic

1/2 pint olive oil

1 onion

1 green pepper

1 two-oz. can small peas

6 ounces tomatoes

1 bay leaf

1 lb. of rice

2 pimentos

2 tablespoons salt

1 1/2 quarts water

Cut chicken in quarters and fry with onions and garlic.  When finished add tomatoes and water.  Boil for 5 minutes.  Add bay leaf, salt, rice and green pepper.  Stir thoroughly.  Place in oven at 350 F for 20 minutes.  Garnish with peas and pimentos.

Manny Sanguillén had one of his best seasons as a member of the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Panamanian-born catcher hit .319 during the season with 7 home runs and 81 RBIs.  He was an NL All Star for the first of three times, and helped the Pirates win the NL East by 7 games over St. Louis. In the 1971 World Series, he batted .379.  

Recognized as one of the best catchers of the 70s, Sanguillén spent most of his career in Pittsburgh and was there in 1979 when they won their second World Series of the decade.  His lifetime batting average of .296 is the fourth-highest by a catcher post-1945.

In recent years, Sanguillén has remained active as the operator of Manny's BBQ, located behind centerfield at PNC Park.  He greets fans in line to buy food, signs autographs and poses for photos. 

  

photos from Cut4/MLB.com

If the Sanguillén recipe in the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates cookbook is any indication, patrons of Manny's BBQ will be well fed.

This recipe for yellow rice and chicken is massive and could feed an entire starting lineup.  The step-by-step procedure does not require any special cooking skills, since all you have to do is keep adding the ingredients to the same pot or large pan, then leaving it to cook until the rice is done.  The result is like a chicken paella.  The only substitution I made was to use a package of chicken thighs instead of an entire chicken cut in to pieces.

This is a dish that will impress a crowd.  Viva Sangy!

Asparagus Casserole by Mandy Sands - from "A Treasure Chest of Pirate Recipes" (1971)

 

RECIPE

(4 large servings)

14 1/2 oz. can asparagus spears

1 can Campbell's Cream Mushroom Soup

4 squares Kraft Pimento Cheese

2 hard boiled eggs

1/2 stick of butter in chunks

Ritz Crackers (crushed) / or potato chips (crushed)

Put asparagus spears in a row into a medium buttered casserole dish.  Slice hard boiled eggs over spears, dice butter chunks next.  Cover with strips of pimento cheese and finish layers of ingredients with the can of cream of mushroom soup completely covering the casserole.  Top with Ritz crackers or potato chips (crushed).  Place in oven 350F for 30 to 35 minutes - crackers will be browned and soup should be boiling around edges.  It's done and ready to be served immediately.

Charlie Sands' baseball career was short.  He appeared as a pinch hitter and backup catcher for four different teams, and played in 93 major league games spread over six seasons.

He did however have the good fortune to be traded as a prospect from the New York Yankees to the Pittsburgh Pirates in October 1970.  

In his rookie season at 23 years of age, he got into 28 games with the 1971 Pirates, batting .200 and hitting one home run.  He was able to come along for the Buccos' post-season ride, and made one plate appearance in the World Series (he struck out).

Despite his unimpressive record, he got himself a World Series ring, so who cares!

As for Charlie's culinary entry in the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates cookbook, I'm going to declare this is probably the low point of my year-long effort.  Yes, it's only April, but no, I don't think I'm going to prepare anything as unappealing as this asparagus casserole.

This is vintage mid-century fare.  Canned ingredients slopped together, topped with crumbled junk food, and baked until any nutrients are but a memory.  Also, I was unable to locate any authentic Kraft Pimiento Cheese, so I shredded a small block of Monterey Jack with red chili peppers in its place.

I'd like to think that no one makes recipes like this any longer.  If so, you have my sympathies.  I know canned vegetables are essential in some places, but fresh asparagus should be available to most people these days, and breadcrumbs would work better than crumbled chips or crackers.

Anyway, I made this dish so you will never have to, to honour a player you have probably never heard of.  I think we're done here.

The Return of Tony La Russa and an Eight-Year-Old Slice of Cake

British people have lots of wild traditions.

One of those traditions is to preserve slices of cakes that were served at royal weddings.  Not as in, "Let's wrap this up to take home and enjoy tomorrow."  More like, "Let's put this in a sealed container so that someday far into the future, people not even born yet will be able to look upon this cake and consider the wonders of our empire."

The article in this link takes a deep dive into the tradition of preserving royal wedding cakes, a tradition that goes back to 1840.  People with gentle constitutions may find some of the cake images upsetting.

Pivot to 2013, the year I launched this website.  It was originally built around the 1983 Chicago White Sox cookbook, and I set out to make every recipe and post the results here.

"La Russa Gastronomique" was the perfect mashup name for this blog, and the perfect recipe to start off with was the one from Tony La Russa.  

The recipe that he submitted for the cookbook was for Tropical Delight Cake, a fruitcake with a decadent cream frosting.  Here's the photo of the finished cake in 2013.

After posting the write-up and photo, I remembered British tradition and on a whim, stowed a slice of this cake in the freezer.  That was in April, 2013.  I never imagined that eight years later, La Russa would return to manage the White Sox once again.  I also never imagined that after eight years, the cake would still be sitting in my freezer, but it was.

To mark the stunning return of this blog's namesake, what more appropriate time to thaw that slice and see what eight years in a cryochamber had done to it.

Would it have held up in stasis?  Would it immediately break down and liquefy like Poe's Valdemar?  Would I dare put some eight-year-old cake in my mouth?  The photographic recap follows.

Commence the thawing!  A skeptical Tony La Russa looks on.

Released from its frozen tomb and plated, the cake maintained its structural integrity.

Tony noted that the golden raisins, once plump and soft, now resembled dried walnut pieces.

The moment of truth.  Even a grizzled veteran like Tony La Russa couldn't bring himself to watch.

The cake tasted old.  Just old.  No life to it, no freshness at all.  It was still light and chewable, and the frosting was sweet, but that first mouthful was punctuated by overwhelming staleness and agedness.

No second mouthful was necessary.  The remainder of the cake went into the trash.

But the memories will last as long as this website does!

Final verdict: don't expect much from an eight-year-old cake that's been sitting in a freezer.  Go out and get yourself something fresh and nice, or better still make your own.