At the plate: Rizzo's yams and much more
May Boxberger's deep-fried turkey cause no fire
May Castro's linguisa stuffing fulfill your desire
Have seconds and thirds of Fredi's hot potato salad
While Rizzo joins mom in a marshmallow-yam ballad
May you get your congri on like Arenados do
May these Thanksgiving recipes be offered to you.
Linguisa Thanksgiving Stuffing
Astros catcher Jason Castro
Ingredients
3-4 bags of cubed, seasoned dry bread crumbs
4-5 stalks of celery, chopped
1-2 sprigs of thyme
1-2 chopped yellow onions
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4-5 sticks authentic linguisa, cut into cubes
3-4 boxes 32-ounce chicken stock (organic preferred)
1 roasted turkey breast separate from your big bird
Fresh ground pepper
Directions: Fill stock pot with chicken stock, celery, thyme, onion, garlic, fresh ground pepper and whole turkey breast. Bring to boil, then simmer one to two hours. Fry linguisa to slightly crisp, drain on paper towels. Put bread crumbs in to large mixing bowl. Strain broth, pull turkey meat from breast and add to bread crumbs. Add broth until consistency is that of a nice stuffing. If making a day ahead, cover and put into fridge.
"On the day of, place some of the stuffing into the main Thanksgiving bird, and roast turkey as directed, put the rest into a large baking dish. Bake at 350 for about an hour."
Deep-Fried Turkey
Rays closer Brad Boxberger
Boxberger and his family celebrate Thanksgiving at his home in Mission Viejo, Calif. He said his wife, Anna, makes a "pretty good sweet potato casserole, which is always nice to have." But last Thanksgiving they added a new item to the menu: deep-fried turkey.
"That's probably my most favorite thing now," Boxberger said. "I started it and my dad kind of helped me do it once he got here a little bit later in the day. I cooked that and it went well last year, so we're going to keep it going this year.
"Test the turkey in water first so you make sure you have the right amount of oil and don't overflow it and burn down the house or whatever's around it. Definitely getting the right amount of oil and not too much is the key."
Congri
Millie Arenado, mother of Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado
"Black beans and rice are a Cuban staple, but at Thanksgiving and Christmas we cook it a little differently. It is called congri," Millie said. "The difference is that they are cooked together. Separately they are called arroz con frijoles and together it is congri.
"My husband Fernando's grandmother was sort of the 'queen congri maker.' Abuela Nena, as she was called, was the glue that held this huge family together. She died at 98, with her mind as sharp as a tack. … The aunts have taken over that cooking role. They use this huge pot, or El Caldero, large enough to feed an army. Leftovers are warmed up for breakfast and they cook fried eggs and place them on top."
Ingredients
1 pound black beans uncooked
6 cups water
2 cups long grain rice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground oregano
2 bay leaves
4 cups black water (reserved from cooking the beans)
Salt and pepper
Directions: Rinse beans and place in pressure cooker with six cups of water. Cook beans for 30 minutes until tender. (Stovetop method: Place beans in a large saucepan. Add water, bring to boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook beans for 60 minutes until tender.)
Using a colander inside a large bowl, drain beans and keep black water. Place rice in a colander and rinse thoroughly with cold water. Set aside to drain.
In a large saucepan heat olive oil, sauté onions and garlic, until onions are translucent. Add cumin, oregano and bay leaf. Add the rice, cooked beans and mix well. Measure out 4 cups of the black water that was reserved after draining beans and add to saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, cover and cook for 20-25 minutes until all the rice is absorbed. Remove and discard bay leaf, fluff with fork and serve.
Pumpkin Pie plus more
Astros manager A.J. Hinch
"A good homemade pumpkin pie, for some reason, only tastes great to me around this time of year, so I would say that's sort of your more traditional dessert. I guess I would call it a Jell-O-pistachio salad that my mom made growing up and my wife has continued to keep in the tradition. It's got a little bit of sweetness to it, it's got marshmallows in it and a little bit of Jell-O flavor, pistachio flavor. It's one of those weird dishes I only eat in November this time of year because it's always been connected to Thanksgiving."
Yams with Marshmallows
Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo
Who's the best cook in the Rizzo family? It's Laurie Rizzo, Anthony Rizzo's mother, who goes all out on Thanksgiving. She starts the day around 1 p.m. with some homemade lasagna, and the food keeps coming. The Cubs All-Star said he loves the turkey and stuffing and all the goodies on the holiday, and he has a clear choice on her menu:
"I like the yams with the marshmallows on them -- that's my favorite. My mom, she just cooks anything. Anything you need, it's on the table."
Cleanup duties
Angels special assistant Bud Black
"I am the head dish washer and cleaner-upper ... in charge of keeping the kitchen functional," Black said on MLB Network Radio. "That's my role on Thursday."
Yogi Berra's Italian Meatballs
"Grampa was pretty obsessed with his meatballs," said MLB.com national correspondent Lindsay Berra. "My dad doesn't remember him not making them. He'd mix and roll them out the day before, and they all had to be a certain size. They were tiny, smaller than a golf ball, bite-sized. You could eat them right out of the pot with a toothpick, which is what we always did. Gram just left them on the stove so they'd stay warm. I think we all helped roll them at some point, different kids different years, whoever was around, and there were always hundreds of them. Joe Torre even mentioned them in his eulogy. I don't know the recipe; I don't think there even was one. Standard Italian meatball mix from the butcher, part beef, part pork, part veal, and I know eggs and parmesan and a ton of fresh parsley, because I remember chopping that one year, but I think he just eyeballed amounts and threw in whatever was around. But amazingly, they always tasted the same. My Gram usually made the marinara sauce. But I think she put mushrooms in it, so it wasn't necessarily traditional. I do miss those meatballs!"
Green Bean Casserole and Pasta
Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto, at Grandma's house in Oklahoma City
"I've got two things," Realmuto said. "We have a huge family, so there are all kinds of dishes. My favorite dish is probably green bean casserole. I don't know why, but I've just always loved it. Then, not every family has this, but since we're a big, ol' Italian family, my grandma makes her homemade spaghetti sauce, and we have a big ol' plate of pasta along with the turkey. It's kind of a weird combo. But there is always a huge plate of pasta for us at Thanksgiving. I think it's just because we have so many people (at least 50 to 60). It's almost hard to get enough turkey to feed everybody. So we have pasta as well. There is all kinds of stuff. Everybody loves my grandma's pasta, so she makes sure she makes that for us."
Café los Cheesy Potato Casserole
Rangers broadcaster Emily Jones
"This recipe feeds at least 12. Better to cut everything in half."
2 bags of shredded hash brown potatoes
1 can Cream of Chicken
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon of salt
1/2 tablespoon of white pepper
Dash of cayenne pepper
"Cook at 350 for 30-45 minutes until brown around the edges."
Hot German Potato Salad
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez
"I love stuffing, but I really love hot German potato salad," Gonzalez said. "It has potato, vinegar and a lot of bacon. I don't know if you consider that a Thanksgiving dish, but that's something I've always loved and looked forward to eating with all of the other traditional stuff."
Can-berries
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle
"I don't carve the turkey. I don't cook the turkey," Hurdle said. "I love parades, so I do wake up every Thanksgiving morning and get the kids up to watch the beginning of the parade. Then I try to make sure somebody has purchased cranberries out of the can from the supermarket, so you can just rip off the top of the can, slice them up and go. Old-fashioned cranberries."
Chicken and Sausage
Padres broadcaster Don Orsillo
"A couple of things first," the Padres' new broadcaster said. "When I cook, I take on my alter ego 'Donatangelo,' which was my great grandfather's name. Second, when cooking Italian, I always play opera music. It helps the food." Here is the recipe:
Brown chicken parts and Italian sausage in a skillet with olive oil. Then remove the chicken and sausage. Cut the sausage into bite-size pieces. Add both to a roasting pan with olive oil, carrots, onions, garlic and potatoes. Season with salt, pepper, rosemary and Italian seasoning. Then cover everything by drizzling your choice of red wine over the top.
Place in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, pull it out and rotate the meats and veggies, and then back into the oven for 45 more minutes. Then serve.
Stackable Mashed Potatoes or Cinnabon
Mets and San Diego Chargers radio broadcaster Josh Lewin
"I wish I could pass along something awesome here that connotes 'over the river and through the woods' and whatnot, but since I work football and basketball every November, Thanksgiving is usually catch as catch can. My ex-wife used to make (and still does!) awesome mashed potatoes, but I always ended up making Devil's Tower designs out of 'em like Richard Dreyfuss did in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. That's not why I'm no longer married (at least I don't think) but just sayin'. Last year was my first New York Thanksgiving and I had the thrill of seeing the Macy's Parade up close before bolting for the airport for a Friday college football assignment. As I recall, I had Cinnabon."
For Love of the Game
Angels closer Huston Street
"I sit in the snow silent and still, and wait for a big turkey to cross my path and I grab him by his gobbler ...
"Some years we eat Thanksgiving turkey
"But some years we're just thankful for the Thanksgiving squirrel.
"Preparation: Add pepper and love. Pumpkin pie for dessert. That and canned cranberries and it's a fine feast."
Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows
Jim Day, Reds pregame/postgame host on FOX Sports Ohio
Day, who admitted that he likes to just show up and eat turkey and not peek behind the curtain too much on the process, enlisted the assistance of his mother-in-law in contributing a recipe.
"I had to call in the big guns for this recipe," he said. "I hope this recipe is not too extensive … but this stuff is delish."
Ingredients
3 1/2 to 4 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Topping
2 cups mini marshmallows
1/2 cup flour
4 tablespoons butter unsalted butter
6 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions: Fill a large pot with sweet-potato pieces and water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cook until fork tender. Drain potatoes and place back into pot. Mash potatoes with a potato masher or blend with an electric mixer until mostly smooth. Add remaining ingredients (except topping ingredients). Mix until combined.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-by-10 casserole dish (8-by-8 or 9-by-9 works, too). Spoon sweet potatoes into casserole dish and smooth out. Sprinkle top of sweet potatoes with marshmallows.
Melt butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Add remaining ingredients. Mix with a fork. Sprinkle over top of casserole. Bake for 20-25 minutes until streusel is crisp and marshmallows are golden brown.