Boudreaux cooks for enjoyment
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, January 2, 2001
Donna Keating
LAPLACE – Adley Boudreaux has lived in LaPlace all of his life. He retired from Kaiser Aluminum Co. in 1989, after working for 35 years in operations.
Over the years, Boudreaux has had a number of hobbies including fishing, hunting, growing a vegetable garden and horseback riding. Today his main hobby is cooking.
Boudreaux began learning to cook about 40 years ago, from his mother the late Ida Boudreaux. He would watch her cook and she would explain to him, “When you get older you will learn hands-on. Theres no better teacher than that.”
Since then Boudreaux has had lots of hands-on experience cooking with friends for social events. Boudreaux is a former volunteer cook for the Riverside Academy May festival. He, along with his cousin the late E. J. “Rinso” Clement, would cook jambalaya for the festival.
Boudreaux said he really enjoys cooking in big black pots and helping friends like Joe Lozano cook for different company dinners. They like to cook jambalaya, white beans and also enjoy barbecues on the rotisserie. When cooking for himself and his family, Boudreaux prepares dishes such as red beans with andouille, seven-steak smothered with onions, gumbo, crawfish and shrimp etouffe and meatloaf.
Thanksgiving dinner at the Boudreaux home consists of a traditional dinner with turkey, meat and oyster dressing and mirlington with shrimp. For Christmas dinner he serves gumbo with potato salad. He says his secret for gumbo is he uses mostly smoked meats and he adds taso to it. He smothers it all down with all the seasonings and uses chicken broth to give it extra flavor.
New Years dinner at his house is stuffed cabbage with ground meat, shrimp and all the seasonings. He also makes his “specialty,” stuffed eggs. Boudreaux said, “Cooking is the easiest thing in the world if you put your mind to it and pay attention.”
Though Boudreaux spends a lot of his time cooking, he also finds time to spend with his granddaughter Katlyn Boudreaux. He watches her for a couple of hours each day when his son Adley Jr. and his daughter-in-law Dawn Boudreaux are working.
STUFFED EGGS
6 eggs, hard boiled
3 tbsps. grated parmesan cheese
2 tbsps. plain lowfat yogurt
1 tsp. crushed basil leaves
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
dash mayonnaise (if desired)
Cut eggs in half length-wise. Remove yolks and set egg whites aside. In a bowl, mash yolks with a fork. Add parmesan cheese, yogurt, basil, garlic powder and a dash of mayonnaise if desired. Mix well. Refill egg whites with one tablespoon of egg yolk mixture for each egg half. Cover and chill to blend flavors. Makes one dozen stuffed egg halves.
GODFATHER MEATLOAF
2 lbs. lean ground beef
2 eggs, beaten
8-oz. can Rotel tomatoes with chillies
3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper, to taste
4-6 sliced boiled ham
6 slices mozzarella cheese
1 jar Ragu Italian sauce
Combine eggs, Rotel tomatoes with chillies, bread crumbs, garlic, salt, pepper and ground meat. Mix well. On foil, flatten meat into a rectangle. Arrange ham on meat, leaving one inch around edge. Place cheese on top. Carefully roll up meat, using foil to lift. Seal edges well. Place seam side down in a baking pan. Cook for eight minutes on high/roast cycle in microwave or bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to one hour.
CRAWFISH CASSEROLE
1 lb. crawfish tails
1 1/2 cups uncooked rice
1 can cream of onion soup
1 can cream of golden mushroom soup
1 can diced Rotel tomatoes, mild
1 cup chopped bell pepper, onion and celery (mixed together)
1/2 cup margarine, softened
season to taste
Combine all ingredients in a casserole dish. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for about one hour. Makes six servings.
SHRIMP ETOUFF…E
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups onions, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
4 green onions, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsps. paprika
1 1/2 tsps. salt
1/2 tsp. red pepper
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 lbs. shrimp, peeled and deveined
8-oz. can mushrooms, sliced with juices
1 cup water
Melt butter and saute vegetable seasonings until tender. Add paprika, salt and pepper. Slowly add flour – stirring constantly until well blended. Add shrimp and mix gently with seasonings. Reduce heat and cover. Allow to smother for about five minutes. Add mushrooms with juices to shrimp. Add enough water until mixture is at medium thickness. Cover and cook on low for about 20-30 minutes – when shrimp are done.
CRAWFISH ETOUFF…E
crawfish
oil
onions
bell pepper
green onions (1 cup per 1 1/2 cups crawfish)
celery
paprika, to taste
4 tsps. flour
salt, to taste
red pepper, to taste water
Using very little oil in a skillet, cook crawfish until red (about 10-15 minutes). Add onions, bell pepper, a little celery and green onions. Cover and smother until vegetable seasonings are softened. Add about four teaspoons of flour and a little water (use your judgement). When thickening, add paprika to color gravy. Salt and pepper to taste.
