Note From Cheri Sicard:
Santa Monica's Cézanne has fast become my new favorite Los Angeles area "special occasion" restaurant and Cezanne's executive chef, Desi Szonntaugh my new favorite chef. Hey, Hans Rockenwagner had a good long run, but there's a new kid in town and his food really sings. But that's doing it an injustice. More than singing, the food served at Cézanne is like a complex harmony of flavors and textures that, like an especially brilliant piece of music, lovingly lives and lingers in memory months, or even years, after the actual experience.

One of the best things about my job is that, in order to share the knowledge with you, I get to spend spend time in the kitchen with talented people like Chef Desi. Before coming to Cézanne, Desi was the Executive Sous Chef at the acclaimed Terrace Restaurant at Hotel Bel-Air, where he created a menu that earned the restaurant accolades in the pages of Saveur magazine.

Photographer Mitch Mandell and I recently spent the afternoon at the classically appointed Cézanne, nestled in the luxurious Le Merigot Hotel on Ocean Avenue, where Chef Desi demonstrated how to make a light and healthy Chilean Seabass dish that's layered with a perfect balance of subtle flavors and tantalizing textures. Get the recipe and see Chef Desi in action below.

You can find Cézanne in the Le Merigot Hotel (a JW Marriott Beach Hotel & Spa) at 1740 Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, California. For more information or to make reservations call 310-395-9700.

If you get all your ingredients for this recipe in place, like chef Desi (photo 1), this dish goes together amazingly fast, with fish and vegetable ragout being perfectly cooked at the same time.

1.

Instructions for this recipe:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Thinly slice the white part of the fennel bulb (you can use the leafy top for a garnish or save for another purpose), and cut the well-washed white portion of the leek into thin strips about 1 1/2 to 2 inches long. Heat chicken stock.

Heat an oven-proof skillet over very high heat. Add a dash of canola oil and heat until it starts to smoke. Put the fish filets into the pan and cook to brown or caramelize the fish, about 2-3 minutes per side. Chef Desi explained that since Chilean Sea Bass is high in healthy fish oil content, the caramelizing step will give your fish a nice nutty flavor. You're looking for a nice light brown color on the fish (photo 2). Place the peeled garlic cloves in the hot pan and immediately take the fish in the oven-proof skillet off the stove and place in preheated oven. Roast until fish is cooked -- about 7-10 minutes. You'll be able to tell because the flesh of the seabass will just start to separate into layers (photo 3).

2. 3.

While fish is Roasting, prepare vegetable ragout. In another skillet, heat about a tablespoon of olive oil. Add red onions and sauté for a minute (photo 4) or so before adding the fennel garlic, leeks, tomato and Roasted pepper (photo 5). Add a cup of white wine, the cannelli beans and portobellos (see recipe links below), season with salt and pepper and cook vegetables until wine is reduced by half. Add a cup of chicken stock. Stir to mix and strain off broth into another small sauté pan (photo 6). Reserve vegetables and keep warm. Stir fresh basil into the vegetable mixture.

4. 5. 6.

Cook stock over high heat until it is a reduced down to a glaze. You're going to cook it until it almost gone. Chef Desi says there is a perfect moment when the stock has reduced to the perfect degree -- it turns into a caramel brown thick syrup. At this point, immediately pour the reduced stock glaze over the (by now) fully cooked fish filets (photo 8).

7. 8.

Mound a pile vegetable ragout in the center of a large shallow bowl. Top with glazed fish filet. Pour hot chicken stock into the bowl (photo 9). garnish with microgreens and dot a few tiny drops of bright green basil oil (see recipe links below) into the chicken broth, as in the finished photo at the top of the page.

9.