Paula Johns's Recipe

Salmon and Green Bean Foil Packet

Category: Entrees

This is so easy to put together — a portion of salmon, a handful of green beans, a dollop of good-quality pesto and a little squeeze of lemon juice. For a dinner party you can use a whole fillet of salmon and treat it exactly the same way; just cook it twice as long. It will look very dramatic when you open up the parcel at the table.

Tip: Start with salad.
For instance, toss tender raw corn with apples, cucumbers, radishes, green beans, fresh herbs and some lemon juice.

What you'll need for the foil packet

2 salmon fillets (4 ounces each), skin on, scaled and bones removed

2 handfuls green beans

2 heaping tablespoons green pesto

1 lemon

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil, as needed

Serves 2

1. Preheat the oven to 400° F.

2. Trim the beans by cutting off the stalk ends but leaving on the wispy tips.

3. Halve the lemon.

4. Take a yard of aluminum foil and fold it in half, bringing the narrow sides together to make 2 layers. Put a handful of green beans in the middle of the folded aluminum foil. Lay a salmon fillet, skin side down, across the beans and spoon a heaping tablespoon of green pesto on top. Drizzle with olive oil, squeeze the juice from one of the lemon halves over all, and season with salt and pepper. Pull the aluminum-foil edges together and scrunch them up to seal the parcel. Repeat these steps to make your second salmon-fillet parcel, and place both foil parcels onto a sheet pan.

5. Put the sheet pan into the hot oven and cook the parcels for 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let it stand for 1 minute before carefully unwrapping and checking that the salmon is cooked through.

6. Either serve the parcels on plates as they are or carefully unwrap them before serving.

Nutrients per serving: 391 calories, 25g protein, 11g carbohydrates, 5g fiber, 28g fat (4g saturated fat), 71mg cholesterol, 1,542mg sodium