Broccolini Beans!

And giving recipes space to breathe

I was in a meeting this past week (shocking, I know, since I usually exist in some state of working alone in my house) where I had a few beats to talk about how important I think it is to give recipes “space to breathe.”

I was on the subway a week ago where someone across from me said “I just made your tinned fish beans!” and I yelled back, “Oh my god, that’s next week’s YouTube video!”

(Both of these stories will align shortly, I promise).

When I say give recipes “space to breathe,” I mean time to be discovered, time to be cooked, and time to be thought about, both by me and by you. Before the next recipe comes. And again, and again. Decision fatigue is a thing!!

My best example of this is the Kabocha Squash & Fennel Soup, which I uploaded during my book tour when there was truly nothing else I could upload with it, and it turned out to be one of my most cooked recipes that fall. I was so used to churning out a scattering of recipes a week that I didn’t realize how powerful it was to give one good (read: VERY good) recipe my full backing for a week.

Cooking for Fun, my YouTube series, started as my place to give recipes that space. To choose some of my best and let them shine for a few weeks.

So I’m excited to share this week’s episode of Cooking for Fun, Broccolini Beans!

Yes, the same beans the woman had cooked on the subway, because they are SO GOOD and I really want to give them a few more weeks of star power.

The video!

Now you might be like: have I seen this before? Which yes, you’ve seen a version of it in this video. But that’s what I mean by giving recipes “space.” I had been cooking a version of this recipe for weeks, tweaking it and adjusting it and letting it just chill up in my brain. It was through giving it time that I got to the best, most broccolini-y result.

The beans of it all. Someone recently joked that Ina’s “store bought is fine” is me saying “but you can also use canned.” AND IT’S TRUE. This recipe starts with dried beans, but that’s because I’m a firm believer that we are overthinking the dried bean!

A home cooked bean can be fun and aromatic and stuffed with ingredients, but it can also be supremely delicious with just a lemon, some garlic, onion and olive oil in the pot. It also might be a disservice to your beans to cook them with too many aromatics if you plan to use them for something else later. This recipe is the lowest-effort brothy bean of them all, but I promise your house will smell amazing.

Tinned fish, but two ways. You all know I’m a big fan of cooking anchovies down in oil before starting a savory dish. It’s like getting a secret salty powerhouse built in, and no one can quite *put their finger on it* (which is a good thing, if you have anchovy haters).

Of course, I’m using the same trick here. But while we start with anchovy, we also finish with even more tinned fish at the end. I’ve been loving mackerel and sardines, but larger anchovies work well, too. What you get is a nice subtle meatiness that elevates the beans.

But if you are vehemently anti-tinned-fish, parmesan, chopped olives, or capers will give a similar effect.

That one time I compared this to aglio e olio, the internet would not have it. But that’s where this recipe began! Sliced garlic crisps up around the broccolini, so I encourage you not to rush it. There’s nothing worse than finding clumps of undercooked garlic pieces.

Sure, this recipe is a million miles away from garlic and olive oil on spaghetti, but I work in vibes! The vibes are similar!

The Recipe!

***If you missed the announcement, a month ago I shared that all “Cooking for Fun” recipes will be behind my Substack paywall and viewable on YouTube. All of my short-form video recipes and additional newsletter content remains paywall-free on JustineSnacks.com. Thank you for your support <3

Serves: 3-4

INGREDIENTS

For the beans

• 1/2 pound of dried white beans (if using canned beans, skip to the broccolini portion and follow the bolded instructions)