My favorite seafood is probably 'dry' sea scallops. I love to sauté scallops in butter, or bread them to pan fry or poach and serve in a velouté style sauce similar to Coquille St Jacque. I love to prepare a delicious scallop mousseline forcemeat... and even paella!
Try the plancha recipe-it's delicious and a little heart healthier without the butter sauce.

Sautéed Sea Scallops

I love Scallops! I find it challenging to get delicious, tender scallops at restaurants or grocery stores since so often the scallops are soaked in phosphates, nitrates etc... to retain moisture. These scallops let out a lot of moisture so it's very hard to get nice caramelization and flavor.

I only use the natural scallops, called 'dry scallops' or 'diver scallops'. These are expensive but absolutely delicious.



Scallops can be purchased in a variety of sizes; fresh or frozen and of different qualities and in different price ranges.


I prefer fresh scallops and cooking scallops very gently with mild seasoning so the natural sweetness is not overpowered.


Sautéed Sea Scallops

Prep Time: 10 min

Cooking Time: 20 min

Yield: 4 portions


Ingredients                                          

3  oz.            Butter, room temperature   

12 ea.           Sea Scallops

3 cloves      AP Flour, sifted                          

1/2 tsp        Kosher Salt                                       

t.t.                Black pepper     

1 ea              Lemon, quartered


3 Tbsp       Italian parsley, chopped


Seared Sea Scallops on la Plancha

Prep Time: 10 min

Cooking Time: 10 min


Yield: 4 portions


Ingredients                                          

2 oz.            Olive Oil

12 ea.          Sea Scallops           

1/2 tsp        Kosher Salt                                       

t.t.                Black pepper     

1 Tbsp.       Thyme (fresh), picked       

3 Tbsp       Italian parsley, chopped

1 ea             Lemon, quartered

How to Prepare Sautéed Sea Scallops


Step 1

Clean the scallops by paring the connector muscle (if there is one); pat dry.






Season with salt and pepper.

Dredge the sifted flour lightly and pat the excess flour from the scallops.



Step 2

Melt the butter and when it begins to lightly brown, add 5 or 6 scallops, browning on the bottom. (medium temperature.)

Jiggle the pan lightly so the scallops brown evenly.


As the scallops brown, invery them carefully with tongs and brown on the other side. You can peek if you're not able to tell when to flip.




Step 3

When all of the scallops are browned, place onto a platter. Squeeze the lemons into the sauce, add the chopped parsley and pour the butter sauce over the scallops.

Enjoy immediately.

Plancha is a popular cooking method that originated in Spain. It is a metal flat top or grill pan used so sear meat, poultry, seafood, vegetables etc... providing a deep, flavorful sear on the outside. There are many planchas available on the market for home cooking.

How to Sear Scallops on the Plancha
Step 1

Heat the plancha on the stove top.

Clean the scallops by paring the connector muscle (if there is one); pat dry.
Season with salt and pepper.


Step 2

Add the olive oil to the plancha, add 5 or 6 scallops, browning on the bottom. (medium temperature.

Do not move the scallops or the pan so the scallops brown evenly.


Cook for 3 minutes, invert them carefully with tongs and brown on the other side. Add the herbs and lemon and serve immediately (in the plancha pan).


I like to add a little hot sauce!

Beyond Sweet Basil: An Herb with History, Health, and Global Range

By Tom Griffiths • April 23, 2026
Beyond Sweet Basil: An Herb with History, Health, and Global Range 

Dessert; Italian Wheat Pie

By Tom Griffiths • April 11, 2026
Our Easter and Christmas meals were feasts... my mother's family all met at Aunt Flora's home in Jersey City to enjoy and celebrate the holidays. Dinner began with platters of fresh mozzarella, roasted peppers, olives, Italian bread, then a pasta course (manicotti or lasagna for the religious holidays), a roast or sausages with plenty of vegetables and traditional Italian desserts with dark coffee.We ate Italian Easter Wheat Pie one day each year—and it was never store-bought. My Aunts brought Easter cookies and baked goods-the wheat pie was my favorite. I loved the slight 'bite' of the wheat and flavors of cinnamon, vanilla and citrus. My father sometimes let me have a sip of his espresso with the dessert. I'm not sure if my mother used lard for the pie crust-she was a fan of butter and Crisco but the crust was always flaky.

Roast Leg of Lamb

By Tom Griffiths • April 8, 2026
There are certain dishes that stay with you—not just for their flavor, but for what they represent. For me, roasting a leg of lamb over Pommes boulangère is one of those meals. I don't recall having lamb at any occasions growing up so this was a dish that I proudly introduced to our family. As a young cook, it was something I could prepare with limited experience, and it provided deeply satisfying results. The lamb roasts in the oven over a bed of potatoes, onions, and garlic, allowing its natural juices and fat to baste the vegetables below. It's actually a simple preparation but becomes a complete, delicious meal—the potatoes absorbing flavor and becoming just as important as the roast itself. These days I'm developing delicious recipes using spice blends such as Ras el hanout, Baharat, Za'atar, Togarashi and even Harissa. I also love roasting leg of lamb outdoors on a grill or rotisserie. I like the subtle smokiness from applewood or dried herbs when I'm roasting lamb outdoors.

Potatoes Boulangère

By Tom Griffiths • April 8, 2026
There are certain dishes that stay with you—not just for their flavor, but for what they represent. For me, Pommes boulangère is one of those dishes. As a young cook, it was a delicious meal I could prepare for my family with my limited culinary experience. I often return to this preparation when roasting whole chicken, pork, or lamb—letting the potatoes, onions, and garlic absorb the natural juices from the protein as it cooks. The potatoes becomes more than a side dish; it’s the foundation of the meal.

Holiday Au Graten Potatoes

By Tom Griffiths • April 7, 2026
There are countless versions of Potatoes au gratin , many of them heavy with cheese. I prefer a more restrained approach—using little or no cheese—so the flavor of the potatoes remains the focus rather than being masked. Milk produces a lighter, more delicate gratin, while light or heavy cream creates a richer, more structured dish. Both are valid—it simply depends on the desired outcome. One constant, however, is nutmeg. Used sparingly, it acts as a quiet “secret weapon,” adding depth without calling attention to itself. This recipe is inspired by Xavier LeRoux, one of the finest chefs I’ve had the privilege to work with. His method includes an extra step—gently simmering the potatoes in cream before baking—which yields a noticeably superior result. The potatoes begin to release their starch into the cream early, ensuring a more uniform texture and a fully integrated dish from the first bite to the last.

My favorite Brownies

By Tom Griffiths • March 19, 2026
There are plenty of brownie recipes—and then there is the one that lives in memory. This is the only brownie recipe I bake, from Julia Child, whose influence reached far beyond French cuisine and into the home kitchens of passionate bakers like my mother. A devoted admirer, she baked these brownies often—usually for the dessert trolley at my restaurant. We featured a brownie freeze... brownie cubes with homemade vanilla ice cream, warm melted chocolate and freshly whipped cream-amazing! For me, this recipe is more than a classic—it’s a reflection of how great cooking is passed down: through admiration, repetition, and a deep love of craft.

Curing Salmon fillet

By Tom Griffiths • March 19, 2026
I taught garde manager for many years at the CIA and this is one of my favorite recipes from class. I actually developed this recipe with one of my students, inspired by a recipe he had learned on his externship.

Dessert; Irish Soda Breadd

By Tom Griffiths • March 17, 2026
We ate Irish soda bread one day each year—and it was never store-bought. Soda bread wasn’t part of our cultural lineage, but it earned its place through something more universal: respect for tradition. My mother was not an occasional baker— growing up, her baking centered on Italian traditions: special Christmas cookies, the Vigna family birthday cake, and beautifully braided Easter breads that reflected heritage. Later, like many serious home bakers of her generation, she was influenced by Julia Child . That influence expanded her repertoire into classic European pastry—Paris-Brest, pound cakes, even German chocolate cake. The iconic cross cut into the top of the loaf is often said to “let the fairies out,” though in professional kitchens we recognize its functional role: allowing heat to penetrate and the loaf to expand evenly during baking.

Authentic Guacamole, Hospitality, and the Responsibility of Feeding People

By Tom Griffiths • February 26, 2026
Authentic Guacamole, Hospitality, and the Responsibility of Feeding People

Beginners recipe: Vegetable Stock

By Tom Griffiths • January 16, 2026
I recently volunteered to prepare vegetable paella for a church Bible group potluck. I was very excited to develop a delicious, new paella recipe and spent time preparing fresh vegetable stock with flavors of the Mediterranean. I always prepare vegetable and fish stocks fresh, as I intend to use them. I’m not a fan of bases or frozen stocks but I sometimes add a small amount of quality base to my stocks.  A vegetable stock with mirepoix, cabbage, mushrooms makes sense in certain applications, for certain recipes—but why would we use a mushroom or cabbage-forward stock in a paella? It doesn’t make culinary sense. Paella is a Mediterranean dish originating in the Valencia region of Spain as a humble meal cooked on an open fire. I’ve enjoyed wonderful paella meals in Valencia prepared with water-not stock, prepared with rabbit, snails and local beans. While traveling through Spain this spring I researched and sampled many styles of paella… no mushrooms, no carrots, no celery and no cabbage.