Lobster Vinaigrette by Delia Pagán - from "A Treasure Chest of Pirate Recipes" (1971)

 

RECIPE

1 lb. lobster tail

1/2 cup olive oil

1/3 cup vinegar

1 tsp. salt

1 small onion - chopped

4 hard boiled eggs - diced

1 green cayenne pepper - diced

Boil 2 cups of water and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt.  Add lobster.  Let stand 5 minutes.

Remove and cut into chunks.

Mix olive oil, vinegar, salt, onion, pepper and eggs.  Pour over lobster chunks.

Refrigerate and serve chilled.

Puerto Rican infielder José Pagán played 15 seasons in the majors, starting with the San Francisco Giants in 1959, then moving to Pittsburgh in a trade in 1965.

Pagán was the hero of the 1971 World Series against Baltimore.  In the eighth inning of Game 7, he doubled to drive in the game-winning RBI and secure a place in Pirates lore.

After one more season in the Burgh, he signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Phillies for one season, and retired in 1973.

There are two approaches you could take to preparing this appetizer. Either get ahold of genuine lobster tails as directed in the recipe, or find some packages of lobster meat already scooped from the tail (it's cheaper and the meat is ready to use). Another substitution I made was to use a shallot instead of a small onion, just because I had shallots in the fridge.

The hot green pepper definitely adds some zip to this dish. If you don't have or don't want to use something that fiery, you can leave it out and splash the prepared dish with a few drops your favourite hot sauce instead. Delia Pagán's recipe definitely calls for something to balance out the mellowness of the lobster and eggs.

José Pagán came through for the Pirates at the end of the World Series, but here he leads off with a hit.