The production of open and hidden strange particles at all pT in central Au+Au collisions is studied in the recombination model. The recombination of thermal and shower partons are found to be dominant at intermediate pT for the formation of K and Lambda, but not for phi and Omega. The result opens up the question of how the rate of recombination of strange quarks is affected by the presence of light quarks in the environment. Evidence is given for why phi cannot be formed by means of K+K- coalescence.