Seafood in the summer is great because it's quick to cook (limiting time over a hot stove) and doesn't leave you feeling weighted down. This recipe from Food52 takes seared scallops and adds a fresh spring onion and tarragon cream to the equation. The result is a sweet scallop that's balanced by an herby and fresh cream sauce. It's easy to cook and looks stunning on the plate. More

The perks of tasting menus: Part of the fun is the element of surprise, and part is being served something that you wouldn't ordinarily order—and discovering a new, unlikely favorite. That's how it happened with me and the Grilled Trout ($22) at Il Casale. More

Sweet, plump onyx mussels get stewed with olive oil, tender shallots, woodsy thyme, Sauvignon Blanc, rich cream, and pungent, sharp, blue Roquefort. I serve it with ice cold dry, hard apple or pear cider from the north of France. More

Shrimp scampi is not a dish I had ever thought about cooking until now. I used to think of it more as a long-gone memory of childhood and something from commercials for Red Lobster. But the loss has definitely been mine. In the way that all clichés have an element of truth to them, famous dishes have great potential for their original deliciousness. And when you start to add up the ingredients in shrimp scampi—pasta, butter, garlic, white wine, and shrimp—its deliciousness is not difficult to imagine. More

For The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook authors Judy Gelman and Peter Zheutlin have included a Lutèce classic, Gambas au Beurre d'Escargot, jumbo prawns gratinéed with a green garlicky butter spiked with licoricey Pernod. One might think that there are snails trying to sneak into this recipe, but it's just big sweet prawns cooked in the same butter that escargot are traditionally sizzled in. More

A San Francisco classic, this stew is traditionally made with the catch of the day. If you are in the mood for this seafood stew, and don't live near the ocean, just go to the fish counter and get a selection of whatever looks good. Generally you're looking for some sort of crab, another shellfish or two, and a firm-fleshed white fish. More

I'm always on the lookout for sauces to paint on salmon roasted over high heat—I love the way fish tastes with a caramelized exterior, and the process is one of the quickest, simplest dinners around. Soy sauce, sesame oil, and other Asian condiments are obvious choices, but I was drawn to this combination from Real Simple. Who knew maple syrup and mustard would work so well together? More

For a deboned fish head's soup, I like salmon heads. You can use any fish head you like, so long as it's large and meaty enough to be worth your time, but if you use salmon heads, consider dill and cream. The procedure is easy enough—sauté some onions or leeks, add the salmon heads and dill and some potatoes or other vegetables, if you like. Simmer, then separate the fish meat from the bones and reintroduce the morsels of tender salmon to the soup, along with more dill and cream. The taste of the stock is fishy without being too overwhelming, especially since it's enriched with cream. More

These pancakes are modeled after the popular Korean dish haemul jeon. The temptation to load these pancakes with every available shellfish at the fish counter can be overwhelming, but I recommend self-restraint; two to three varieties of shellfish are the most that should go into these pancakes. Generally I like to pair shellfish that have different textures; a favorite combination in my kitchen is shrimp and mussel. More

A couple weeks ago my soon-to-be-married friends decided that a full-on traditional New England clambake was the way to go for their beachside Massachusetts wedding—and that I'd be the one to execute it. It was clear from the beginning that the right way was clearly not the way we'd be doing things. The only question was: Exactly which variety of wrong would we choose? More