FTR Guest Chef: Chef Billy Sotelo From La Caille Restaurant

It's always an entertaining and fascinating time to have a chef in your kitchen. You get a chance to get inside their head, and see the thought, skill, and time it takes to prepare the meals that we get to enjoy at restaurants. It truly gives you a new appreciation of chef's skills and dedication to food.

Our Guest Chef, Billy Sotelo from La Caille Restaurant was no exception to this phenomenon. We had the honor of sharing an evening with him while creating a garden-fresh ravioli feast! We were especially inspired by his story, for he is self-trained, and credits the wonderful chefs that he worked under for his success and love for cooking.

Chef Billy came to the FTR kitchen with his arms nearly overflowing with garden-fresh tomatoes from the La Caille Garden. This would be the basis for our tomato sauce. And only 3 other ingredients would compliment these juicy and sweet beauties: garlic, olive oil, and salt.

Tomatoes of all colors, sizes, and textures means complex and delicious flavors!

Next, he began mixing the dough for the ravioli. Again, simplicity is best when it comes to fresh food. So, he added all-purpose flower, eggs (1 whole egg to every 3 egg yolks, about 12 in total), olive oil, and salt. 

No bowl necessary for this dough! 

We all got a chance to knead the dough, which turned out "smooth as a baby's head," as one member commented. We allowed the dough to chill, while we removed the skin from the tomato sauce (although you can just blend it all together).

We don't only work out in the gym! Kneading this dough will get those forearms 

When the dough had chilled (about 20 minutes) we were ready to start rolling! Chef Billy showed us his pasta making machine and how to continue to run the dough through, changing the settings to get thinner and thinner, until desired thickness.

Finally, we got to see how ravioli always seems to come out so uniform and perfect! We used Chef Billy's ravioli molds to gently press the dough down, fill it with a simple and delicious blend of ricotta, parmesan, and olive oil, and how to brush it with egg and top it with more dough to complete the plump and savory pillow!

Carefully filling the ravioli molds with cheesy goodness!

The whole process took close to 1.5 hours, but boy, was it worth it! We all gained a greater appreciation for the effort that goes into homemade ravioli and had a chance to slow down with our food, appreciate the magic of combinations and mixtures, and put our own love into the food we were making, together. 

We all got to enjoy the fresh ravioli together, tasting the sweet and slightly acidic tomato sauce, the pungent, yet delicate flavor of the fresh basil, and the absolute satisfaction of biting into a gooey, soft pillow of cheese that makes anyone feel at home. 

We are so grateful to Chef Billy for showing us this sacred and beautiful ceremony of food. And a special thanks to FTR member Steven Mecham, who works with Chef Billy at FTR, for setting us up with such a kind and talented man!

Look out for our next guest chef and come join us in the kitchen!