A Virtual Roast

By Jody Steele

As I am sure you have noticed, Ocean Reef Club has gone virtual in a big way. Another step in our unique way of life, Members can now can play trivia, bingo, entertain children, take a spa tutorial, learn how to make a beverage like a pro, engage in a fitness routine, and participate in a cooking class without forsaking appropriate social distancing rules. All of this can be accomplished while staying home.

Although I have tried most of these new entertainment opportunities, I was fascinated by the newly offered cooking classes. Shelby Confer, CH Prime Chef de Cuisine, explained how this idea came from the Farmer’s Market sale of meat and fish from CH Prime. As Members purchased these exceptional products, they kept asking the best way to prepare them. So Chef Shelby, who led our Cooking School for over three years, began emailing and handing out recipes which then morphed into virtual demo cooking classes. Andrea Van Willigan, Executive Chef, who has experience in designing meals with ingredients all ready to go added her expertise. Together these talented chefs created the virtual cooking program.

#1-The Box
Although just watching the class is an option, I could not resist taking on the whole adventure. Chef Andrea and Chef Shelby delivered the enormous box of labeled and packed ingredients the day before the virtual class. It was the perfect opportunity for my husband and I to cook in the kitchen together. Actually the arrangement is that he does the messy work and I organize and clean up. The first step was preparing the brine together and placing the plump chicken in its bath for the night.

#2-The AM
After our morning coffee, we rinsed the chicken and patted it dry for its evening appointment.

#3-Showtime
We dutifully tuned in to the cooking class at 5 p.m. at oceanreef.com/VirtualCooking to take our class with Chef Andrea The messy stuffing of the roasted garlic butter under the skin was done perfectly by my husband. As the chefs warned, the trussing part was the most challenging so we stopped the video and watched it step by step. Placing the cut up vegetables and chicken in the roasting pan and seasoning it all with the packed ingredients was easy. We thought it looked ready for the roast.

#4-The Almost Perfect Result
Roasted beautifully in an hour, we removed the chicken from the oven. Following Chef Shelby’s carving tutorial, we suddenly realized the chicken had been roasted upside down. We have no excuse for this embarrassing behavior, but still can attest the roasted chicken was the best we have ever tasted and the vegetables were supreme. It provided us with two dinners and Sunday brunch chicken salad. We certainly hope that the chefs allow us to take another class as we promise to be more attentive and thorough in following the virtual directions next time.

The cooking class schedule so far is as follows:
• Yellowtail Classic with Rice Pilaf and Asparagus on 5/7/20 with Chef Philippe
• NY Strip with 3 Cheese Mac and Cheese and Brussel Sprouts on 5/14/20 with Chef Shelby

The meal boxes with packaged and measured ingredients need to be ordered the Monday before the class by 3 p.m. and are delivered on Wednesday for the Thursday class. If you miss a class, as two are already completed, you can still watch them on the Ocean Reef virtual site.

Thanks to our talented chefs for creating another worthwhile and entertaining diversion on our virtual platform at Ocean Reef Club.