Follower Sunday: “Thank You Readership!” Guest-Chef Ryan Boudreaux aka Cajun Chef Ryan, Chef for Emeril’s Homebase

by Anthony J. Sepe

http://fromadietitiansperspective.blogspot.com

Each Sunday, I thank my readership for their loyalty and dedication to my blog, by providing a healthy recipe.  To those that know, this is a healthy repeat, but for those that are unaware and are new to the blog, this is my way of “giving back.”  It is also a way to “Pay it Forward.”  Each Sunday, not only will you have a healthy recipe, but you will have an expert in the field of dietetics, food and nutrition, provide the healthy recipe to you.  It is my pleasure to introduce this week, Chef Ryan, my colleague and friend, along with his, Baked Tomatoes.

Cajun Chef Ryan

2007	North Carolina State University Computer Training Unit Raleigh, NC Cold Fusion MX Level I and Level II Coursework
1998 to 2000	University of Phoenix Metairie, LA Bachelor of Science in Business Information Systems; September 2000; GPA 3.8 out of 4.0
1999 to 2000	New Horizons (Microsoft Certified Technical Education Center) Metairie, LA MCSE NT 4.0 Certification Course; MCP acquired October 2000
1990 to 1991	University of New Orleans, Metropolitan College New Orleans, LA Certificate of Completion in Microcomputers, Specialization in WordPerfect 5.1, 1991
1983 to 1985	Delgado Community College New Orleans, LA Associate Degree in Art Sciences, Specialization in Culinary Arts, 1985
1980 to 1982	Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, LA Studies in Forestry and Wildlife

The Delgado Community College Associate Degree in Art Sciences with specialization in Culinary Arts was part of a 3 year culinary apprenticeship program in conjunction with the American Culinary Federation (ACF) and the New Orleans Chapter of the ACF known as ACF-NO, or Les Chefs de Cuisine de la Louisiane . The first two years of my apprenticeship were completed at the Hyatt Regency Hotel New Orleans and the final year was at the Columns Hotel, which is a National Historic Landmark. Upon completion of the apprenticeship program at the Columns Hotel I was promoted to Sous Chef. I also held a part-time job as cook at Nature’s Way Restaurant during this time period, however, this work experience was not included as part of the apprenticeship program.

 

Ryan Boudreaux, aka Cajun Chef Ryan

Email: cajunchefryan@rymocs.com

Residence: Wake Forest, North Carolina

Blog address: http://cajunchefryan.rymocs.com/blog2/

Education/Training

2007	North Carolina State University Computer Training Unit Raleigh, NC Cold Fusion MX Level I and Level II Coursework
1998 to 2000	University of Phoenix Metairie, LA Bachelor of Science in Business Information Systems; September 2000; GPA 3.8 out of 4.0
1999 to 2000	New Horizons (Microsoft Certified Technical Education Center) Metairie, LA MCSE NT 4.0 Certification Course; MCP acquired October 2000
1990 to 1991	University of New Orleans, Metropolitan College New Orleans, LA Certificate of Completion in Microcomputers, Specialization in WordPerfect 5.1, 1991
1983 to 1985	Delgado Community College New Orleans, LA Associate Degree in Art Sciences, Specialization in Culinary Arts, 1985
1980 to 1982	Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, LA Studies in Forestry and Wildlife

The Delgado Community College Associate Degree in Art Sciences with specialization in Culinary Arts was part of a 3 year culinary apprenticeship program in conjunction with the American Culinary Federation (ACF) and the New Orleans Chapter of the ACF known as ACF-NO, or Les Chefs de Cuisine de la Louisiane . The first two years of my apprenticeship were completed at the Hyatt Regency Hotel New Orleans and the final year was at the Columns Hotel, which is a National Historic Landmark. Upon completion of the apprenticeship program at the Columns Hotel I was promoted to Sous Chef. I also held a part-time job as cook at Nature’s Way Restaurant during this time period, however, this work experience was not included as part of the apprenticeship program.

Work Experience

What follows is the complete work resume with the most recent history listed at the top:

Current Employer: Excel Management Systems, Inc

Position: Web Designer

Industry: Federal Government

Location: Research Triangle Park, NC

Employer: Emeril's Homebase, LLC

Position: Technology Technician

Industry: Restaurant

Location: New Orleans, LA

Employer: Diamond Data Systems

Position: Technology Technician

Industry: Technology

Location: New Orleans, LA

Employer: Club Corp of America

Position: Food and Beverage Director

Industry: Country Club / Fitness Center

Location: La Place, LA

Employer: Cuco's Mexican Cafe

Position: Manager

Industry: Restaurant

Location: Gretna, LA

Employer: Boudreaux's Restaurant

Position: Owner / Chef

Industry: Restaurant

Location: New Orleans, LA

Employer: Perry Oceanographics

Position: Chief Steward

Industry: Oceanographics

Location: Riviera Beach, FL

Employer: Delgado Community College

Position: Culinary Instructor

Industry: Education

Location: New Orleans, LA

Employer: Copeland's of New Orleans

Position: Manager

Industry: Restaurant

Location: Metarie, LA

Employer: National Medical Enterprises

Position: Food Service Director

Industry: Health Care

Location: New Orleans, LA

Employer: Health Care International

Position: Executive Chef

Industry: Health Care

Location: Metairie, LA

Employer: Eiffel Tower Restaurant

Position: Sauté Cook

Industry: Restaurant

Location: New Orleans, LA

Employer: Innovative Catering

Position: Chef

Industry: Restaurant

Location: New Orleans, LA

Employer: Columns Hotel

Position: Sous Chef

Industry: Restaurant

Location: New Orleans, LA

Employer: Nature’s Way Restaurant

Position: Cook

Industry: Restaurant

Location: New Orleans, LA

Employer: Hyatt Regency Hotel

Position: Saucier / Apprentice

Industry: Restaurant

Location: New Orleans, LA

Biography

I have always wanted to record and document the knowledge base of information and material that I have collected for 33+ years of my cooking experience, with 21 of them spent as a professional chef. So it is with great pleasure that I started the Cajun Chef Ryan blog in May of 2008 which has been the focal point of my project for putting into digital form what is currently stored in my brain and a dozen or so notebooks, 3-ring binders, and many manila folders from the 18 various restaurants and institutions that allowed me to cook and chef throughout my culinary career.

In the Beginning…
I started out my cooking curiosity by taking frozen Jeno’s Pizzas and piling on custom toppings like mushrooms, black olives, Italian seasoning, extra pepperoni slices, and extra cheese. My pizza combinations varied, but this started my early days of cooking at home in the pre-teen years. During the summer of 1974 I was 12 years old and staying at home getting bored and having not much to do. I was watching The French Chef Julia Child on the local PBS station WYES channel 12 in New Orleans and enjoyed the 30 minute cooking lessons. One morning Julia Child spent the entire show demonstrating the techniques and varieties of making French omelets’. I was fascinated with how she mixed up the eggs with water and not milk, and added some parsley, salt and pepper, and stirred it up just a bit with a fork, but not too much. She also demonstrated how to make the flip and then the tri-fold technique. I was so motivated after the airing of that show I immediately went into the kitchen and proceeded to break about 2 dozen eggs before I perfected the flip technique. Later that day and after confessing to my mother what happened to all the eggs I soon became known for my omelet making, especially as I continued to perfect them on most weekend mornings. Through the years I also cooked omelets for friends at their houses and started a tradition of making various combinations including Western, Ham and Cheddar, Cream Cheese and Chive, Smoke Oyster, Shrimp and Cheddar, and even some that were not so popular like Sauerkraut and Swiss.
My mom and I also started an appreciation for making fresh baked breads, she used to make this fabulous Dilly Bread that was out of this world, and it started in motion my fascination with yeast and whole wheat flour. We would make many and varied whole wheat and whole grain breads. Yeast became a passion for me as I was awestruck with the organism and how it worked and its lengthy history going back to the Roman Empire. In the late 1970’s our passion for fresh bread ultimately landed my dad in the hospital for a 10 day stay due to horrible and crippling stomach pains. Eventually after a biopsy of the intestines did the doctors determine that he suffered from Celiac Disease, or more commonly known today as an allergy to gluten. Gluten is the combination of starches that make up 80% of the protein found mainly in wheat, rye, and barley. It is also the building block that holds together wheat products including breads, pastas, beers, grain alcohols, and other wheat based products. This was my first experience with a food related allergy and restricted diets.
Getting Paid to Cook….oh boy!
My professional culinary experience range includes working in the kitchens of major and minor hotels, 5 star restaurants, a private law firm dining room, a catering company, a health food restaurant, a franchise chain themed Cajun restaurant and a Mexican restaurant, health clubs, country clubs, hospitals, and my own restaurant Boudreaux’s.
In my 21 years of professional restaurant experience I started out as an apprentice at the Hyatt Regency Hotel New Orleans, LA. I enrolled in the Culinary Apprenticeship Program at the New Orleans Regional Technical Institute in the spring of 1983 and started the apprenticeship in the fall working downtown at the Hyatt Hotel banquets department. I can remember interviewing with Chef Kurt Wolf and having no previous experience other than cooking at home, Chef Wolf asked me if I had ever prepared meals for a large number of people.
I had just returned from my 2 1/2 month solo bicycle tour in the American southwest and related my story about how I prepared a meal for about 25 people at the Durango Youth Hostel. I had told the director of the hostel that I was going to attend culinary school upon my return to New Orleans and he was excited to hear it and then encouraged me to prepare a meal and might even make some money at it too! So I pulled the ingredients together and made a large batch or two of Eggplant Parmesan and a huge Garden Salad, some of the ingredients came from a garden that the youth hostel maintained. By the way, I weeded the garden one day in lieu of paying rent for a few days. I also cleared about $50.00 from of the vegetarian meal, the folks loved it! And I had fun too, my first professional cooking experience!
So there you have it! My first steps in what continues to be an adventure in cooking and culinary gastronomy. What followed in the next 21 years of professional culinary growth would take up another post and I may just leave it at that for now. However, some of the hats that I wore in those 21 years included the following stations and positions of the kitchens and restaurants: banquet cook, garde manger, saucier, broiler, sauté, pantry, sous chef, chef, executive chef, kitchen manager, dining room manager, food and beverage director, food service director, and owner/proprietor.
My current project is to transfer into digital form all the hand written and typed recipes from my note books, binders, and folders. I will compile the recipes into an eBook format and organize them for future distribution in a CD or even DVD media format. I will most likely charge a small price for these eBooks, but have not determined the value at this time, most likely it will be to cover my time and materials.
While I do not get paid to cook these days, I am still a chef at heart and still love to cook at home with my wife Monique and son Benjamin. Monique is my little “sous chef” and Ben has become the “Muffin Man” lately as he will bake a couple batches of them every week it seems. We all love to cook and especially to eat! Happy eating!

Here is a favorite family favorite recipe from Chef Ryan:

 

 

©  Baked Tomatoes

Recipe reprinted with permission from “cajunchefryan.rymocs.com/blog/2” by Ryan Boudreaux.

Ingredients:

4, each Tomatoes, medium

1 cup Mayonnaise

1/2 Tbsp Thyme

1/2 Tbsp Italian Seasoning Mix

1/2 tsp. Garlic Salt

1/2 Cup Parmesan cheese, shredded

1/2 Cup Italian Breadcrumbs

Procedure Steps:

1. Pre-healt oven to 375 degrees f.

2. Combine the mayo, herbs, salt and parmesan until well-mixed.

3. Cut the tomatoes into halves and place onto baking dish.

4. Spoon the mayo mixture evenly onto each of the 8 tomato halves.

5. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until tops are golden brown and tomatoes are soft.

 

Ryan adds that this dish is one that his wife prepares whenever they have some tomatoes that need to be cooked or on a whim when they have the hankering for them too!  These go well as a side dish with just about anything, even with a salad like we did with some Caesar salad the other night.

Remember to visit Ryan Boudreaux, aka Cajun Chef Ryan at:

Blog address:  http://cajunchefryan.rymocs.com/blog2/

Email: cajunchefryan@rymocs.com

 

Enjoy!