Open foil packets to reveal a simple, dramatic salmon-and-green beans meal

Impressive! What a memorable presentation when you unfurl this entrée, Salmon Baked in a Foil Parcel with Green Beans and Pesto, to reveal a sumptuous, steaming, one-dish feast of fish and a fresh veggie.

The AARP’s recent magazine had as a dinner feature this easy-to-assemble delight. I liked the fact that this dish had enough panache for use at a dinner party but was simple and basic enough for a quick weeknight meal.

A little lemon juice squeezed on top of the fillet and some quality green pesto are all the adornments needed. In the interest of time I subbed some lemon-pepper seasoning for the green pesto. That seasoning in itself made the duo plenty tasty.

Opening the parcel at the dinner table is dramatic. The salmon and green bean combination is an excellent pairing. And we all need to eat more fish!

Salmon Baked in a Foil Parcel with Green Beans and Pesto

2 handfuls green beans

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

olive oil, as needed

sea salt (or salt substitute) and freshly ground black pepper

1 lemon

2 heaping tablespoons green pesto

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Trim the beans by cutting off the stalk ends but leaving on the wispy tips. Halve the lemon. Take a yard of aluminum foil; fold it in half. Bring 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. 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; place both foil parcels onto a sheet pan. Put the sheet pan in the oven and cook the parcels for 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let it stand for 1 minute before you carefully unwrap and check that the salmon is cooked through. Serve the parcels either on plates as they are or carefully unwrap them before you serve. Makes 2 servings. (Source: AARP The Magazine, September 2012)

Thanksgiving prep starts with this successful audition of a green-bean recipe

It happened again—diversion. I swear by anything Prevention magazine says or features, so when a must-try recipe appears, I can't help myself. I have to stop everything and work it into my schedule. You've already read about how a change in plans derails me. Consider me derailed, but in a good way.

The culprit this time was a recipe for Best-Ever Green Beans. For its current issue Prevention asked a group of famous chefs to suggest their dream Thanksgiving dinner. Legendary cook and author Jamie Oliver produced this recipe, adapted from his book Jamie's Food Revolution. The Prevention article quotes Oliver as saying that even the pickiest kid in the family will pass on his plate for these beans. I love it. The beans are said to be a "107-calorie side" dish that can be served for 86-cents per person. Low-cal, healthy, inexpensive, and creative--that's what I call a super dish!

We didn't wait until Thanksgiving but prepared them for last night's meal to accompany meat loaf. What a great side! I feel sure that at a later date they'll reappear on our table to accompany a turkey. Puts that ole TG standby green-bean casserole in the shade!

Best-Ever Green Beans (Jamie Oliver)

1 1/4 pound green beans

pinch of salt (or salt substitute)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (the shredded variety, not the kind in a can)

1/2 lemon

Line up green beans on a chopping board. Cut off the stalks and leave the wispy ends as they are. Put the beans into a large saucepan of boiling water with the pinch of salt and cook for about 6 minutes. Try one of the beans. If it's soft and not squeaky when you eat it, they're done. Drain them in a colander; reserve some of the cooking water, and set beans aside to steam dry. Put the pan in which you boiled the beans back on the heat. Add the oil and the garlic. Give it a stir. When the garlic starts to turn golden, add the beans and jiggle the pan around to coat them in the garlicky oil. Add a ladleful of the reserved cooking water, the Parmesan, and the juice from the half lemon. Stir and simmer until the water and cheese start to form an oozy, sticky sauce; then remove from the heat and serve immediately. Serves 8.