For a style-over-substance guy like myself, the most important part of any meal or libation is the garnish. And in a dish that can get dull and played-out, like this salad, the garnish can reinvigorate everything, giving new life to the tried and true. Here, a simple pile of spring greens and sliced fennel is sprinkled with shaved parmesan, pine nuts, and some freshly-ground pepper. That such simple things can make for such a wondrous difference is one of the ways that food will always be infinitely interesting to me.

Andy has long been a fan of the beet. Me, not so much. But better late than never, and the past year has seen a beet boon in my kitchen, and on my restaurant plates. (I still get giddy at the thought of a certain phenomenal beet salad I had at Five-O earlier this year.) For their taste, consistency, and most especially that gorgeous color, it’s hard to beat the beet.

For a seafood lover like myself, it’s slightly strange that scallops and shrimp don’t rank that high, but for whatever reason I don’t usually choose them. I’ll go to town on shrimp cocktail if it’s on hand at a party, but for the most part I keep my seafood selections to fish and lobster and oysters, with some occasional calamari. Every once in while though, I get a hankering for scallops, so if we find some decent ones (even at $19.99 a pound) I’ll indulge. Such was the case the other day, and the timing was fortuitous as there was a great recipe for grilled scallops in the New York Times magazine that week.

The ingredients are simple (I only had to locate the miso and the scallops):

* 1 pound scallops (but at that exorbitant price point, I went for eight large ones as it was a meal for one)

* 2 Tbsp. miso

* 2 Tbsp. mirin

* Vegetable oil

* Black pepper

* Toasted sesame seeds and scallions (for garnish)

The recipe:

Grilled Scallops with Miso Glaze

Whisk together 2 tablespoons miso, 2 tablespoons mirin, and some black pepper. Thread scallops onto skewers. Brush with vegetable oil, and grill until almost done.

Brush miso mixture on both side and continue to cook, turning once or twice until glaze caramelizes a bit and scallops are done.

Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and thinly-sliced scallions.

Here are the grilling instructions for scallops – the main secret to success is to err on the underside of cooking:

Heat gas grill until very hot. Rub grill with oil and set 3 to 4 inches from heat. Grill scallops until brown on bottom and release easily from grill (2 to 3 minutes). Turn and brown other side; total cooking time should be 3 to 5 minutes. You want to take scallops off before interior becomes completely opaque.

One of the first dishes I learned to make for my husband (first and few) was this easy Penne a la Vodka. It sounds more grown-up than it actually is (and everyone knows most of the liquor burns off before anyone can get the remotest bit of a buzz going). I forget where I saw the recipe – something on the Food Network probably. It calls for chopped onion, but the chef who prepared it said her kids didn’t like onions in their food, so she would simply cut one in half, let it cook with the sauce for a bit to give it flavor, then take it out and they never noticed the difference. The same trick could be used to fool my grandma, who swore she couldn’t eat onions. (She loved Andy’s sauce so much she never noticed how much garlic and onion was actually in it.) If you didn’t tell her something had onions in it, she would eat it happily and not notice a thing except how nicely flavored it might be. But if she saw an onion, all bets were off.

On medium heat, in a medium sized pan, saute the onions and garlic in olive oil until translucent. Add the tomatoes and cook down for about ten minutes. Add the vodka, let simmer for a few more minutes. Add the cream and cheese, let simmer again, then add the basil and salt and pepper to taste. Total cooking time should be about half an hour. Serve with penne pasta, garnish with fresh basil. I added some shaved parmesan cheese on top as well, because one can never get enough cheese.

(Please note that the measurements listed are approximations, as the original recipe has been lost, so if you think they should be adjusted, don’t hesitate to do so. This is a pretty fool-proof recipe and can take some fluctuations.)