Heavenly Recipes

Heavenly Recipes

Story and Photos by Lawrence Chatagnier

Holly cooks a healthy meal

This month’s Heavenly Recipe comes from Vacherie native and Chackbay resident Holly Becnel. Holly and her husband Thomas have been living in Chackbay for the past 20 years. They have two adult children who are in the military, Erica and Hunter.

Holly is sharing her recipe of maple glazed salmon. “I got this recipe from a local home improvement and food show recently. I love this recipe. I could eat it every week!”

Holly says that she is cooking now more than she used to. She likes to cook in black iron skillets. “I love to bake. I enjoy baking cakes, cookies and homemade brownies. My mom used to bake wedding cakes for local weddings. My mom and the local ladies of the neighborhood would get together at our house and bake wedding cakes for the local women getting married. My grandmother taught me how to make the decorative roses on the wedding cakes by hand. It is a very labor intensive process.”

“My dad was the outdoorsman of the family; he would hunt and fish. He also had a large vegetable garden. He would grow the vegetables and my mom would cook them. He was also a fisherman. My dad was known for his fresh catfish and boiled crabs.”

Holly is the youngest of eight children in her family. “My parents were older when I was born. They were both well into their 40s. I have a greater appreciation for them now. They were at the age where they were wise when I was a youngster. When I was 12, my dad made the camp on the lake our home. I used to travel by boat to get to and from home. I was always kidded that I had to get on a boat to come to work.”

Holly has been working for the diocese for the past 38 years. She started working part-time in 1983, then began working full-time in the finance department in 1984, where she worked for the next seven years. a

Heavenly Recipes

Maple Glazed Salmon

For marinade:

1/2 cup soy sauce 1/2 cup maple syrup

Place soy sauce and maple syrup in a plastic zip lock bag. Lower slab of salmon into the mixture. Release as much air as possible and zip close. Place in refrigerator overnight meat down. When ready to skillet fry, take salmon out of mixture and place on a dish. I sprinkle with Chef Paul Prudhomme’s salmon season mix, but you can sprinkle any season you would like (salt, pepper) OR none at all. Prep your skillet with a tablespoon or two of olive oil (I use a black iron skillet). Heat oil till hot and slightly smoking (medium high). Lay salmon skin down into the pan and allow to sit for 6-7 minutes. The skin will get brown and dark. Flip salmon over and cook until flesh side starts to brown, 5-6 minutes more. When salmon is done to your likeness transfer to plate and let cool. (Some people eat the skin – I prefer not to).

For drizzle sauce:

1/3 cup soy sauce 2/3 cup maple syrup

Combine the soy sauce and maple syrup together in a sauce pan; place on medium to low heat until bubbly. Simmer until sauce reduces to a syrup like substance. Drizzle over salmon.

After returning from maternity leave for her first child, Erica, she began working for computer support and finance reconciliation. She was working directly with the late Msgr. James Songy. “I went back to school at night to study networking. I received certification at Fletcher as a Cisco Certified Network Administrator (CCNA). I could assist the Catholic schools with their networking needs in technology and networking capabilities. When Msgr. Songy retired, the Office of Computer Operations/Technology was formed.”

Holly was named director of the new office, a position that she still holds today.

Holly has a love for the church and she also enjoys the challenges and changes that come with computer technology. “I love the church. I love working for the church. I have always viewed myself as working for God. I feel that what I do is truly ministry and that ministry is in the form of technical skills. I bring God’s message to his people through technology.”

Working all of her adult life here has given Holly a chance to reflect on what it means to grow and mature as an adult while working for the church. “I have grown to a different level of faith over the years because of the personal experiences and relationships that have been formed. Working for the diocese led me to a deeper faith realizing the humanness of all our clergy and a different definition of who Jesus was, seeing his humanity, not just the spiritual Jesus. I grew up here. It’s always been ministry for me. It’s never been just a job.” BC