New look, new recipes, newsletter~

There's no time to have a launch like the middle of March!

Hello my jacket potatoes. This is an exciting newsletter today for two reasons:

1) We’re reformatting the newsletter (just a bit!), and
2) A new YouTube has dropped!

If you’ve been following me for a minute, you know for years YouTube has been my white whale. I tried it once in 2021 when I was simply not ready, tried it again as a self-tape series this fall - which I loved, but I definitely treated as an afterthought. And this January when I was excited and energized to jump back in, I had to learn a lot of hard lessons about production, preparation, directing and execution. There is a huge difference between filming something alone in my kitchen versus translating a creative vision to people supporting you. And believe me, I had a vision.

I wanted my YouTube to execute recipe content with beautiful, professional videography and an upbeat, playful vibe. And after trial-and-error, I’m thrilled to say we finally got it.

So with that, I’m excited to launch: Cooking for Fun, a bi-weekly recipe series on YouTube!

Kicking off with our first video, Three Dinner Party Salads

And you can expect videos like Black Sesame Banana Cake, Brown Butter Miso Cinnamon Buns, Broccolini Beans and my (very untraditional) take on Shrimp & Grits in the future. You can watch the first episode here.

Now, for what’s changing with the newsletter

Not much! Okay, a little bit. But still know that you are the inner circle.

You may or may not have noticed a pretty large migration of creators to Substack over the past few months. And I love it. From writers to legal advisors to recipe developers, this platform hosts burgeoning creative community and I’m thankful to have somewhere to go that is not X.

This does, however, mean that I have been rethinking the value of my publication over the past weeks. What started as just a place to link all of my recipes and talk about my feelings (ily) has now evolved into an impactful home for my brand and my work. So here’s how the newsletter will work moving forward:

• Every other week the newsletter will be a round-up of all the new recipes that I’ve published with links to JustineSnacks.com. Plus, some chat. Basically what we’ve always done and what our newsletter is now.

• Every OTHER week the newsletter will focus on the latest episode of Cooking for Fun. This is because I’ve realized the power of giving recipes a space to breathe. My most-cooked recipes are often the ones that I dedicate full newsletters to, and I love going into a recipe in-depth. These newsletters will provide a written version of the recipe available to paid subscribers, but if you don’t have the funds right now, you will still have the option to cook through the recipes with me via the video.

Overall, my goal is to produce more intentionally, and my recipes have thanked me for it. There’s a reason it took Samin Nosrat 8 years to write her second book!

---

So let’s get into these Three Dinner Party Salads! A Radicchio Salad with Toasted Sesame Breadcrumbs, a Fennel Salad with Fennel Frond Dressing and Frico, and a Kale Tahini Caesar.

Radicchio Salad with Toasted Sesame Breadcrumbs

Sizzling dried mint in olive oil is a Persian technique that I’ve been obsessed with for a few years now, and adding sesame seeds into the equation just increases that obsession. This salad combines radicchio with a sweet ginger vinaigrette to temper some of its bitterness, then the whole thing is topped with a pile of sesame + mint breadcrumbs and hunks of feta.

It’s leafy, bread-crumb-crunchy (a technical term), and the feta hits all of the right salt notes. I recommend serving it with any Mediterranean-style dishes you have on your dinner party list - think shakshukas, seafood and grilled vegetables, hearty spiced stews, etc.

Recipe: Radicchio Salad With Toasted Sesame Breadcrumbs

397KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

Fennel Salad with Fennel Frond Dressing, Frico & Dates

Calling all fennel haters, I’m trying to convert you with this one.