Warm the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring often, for 2 to 3 minutes until the garlic turns pale gold and smells sweet. Do not let it brown — bitter garlic will haunt the whole dish.

Add the drained beans and the vegetable broth. Stir gently and let everything simmer for 5 minutes so the beans warm through and take on the garlic flavor.

Using the back of your spoon, mash about a quarter of the beans against the side of the skillet. This is the whole trick: the mashed beans thicken the sauce into something creamy without any flour.

Pour in the cream and stir. Add the spinach in two big handfuls, folding each one in until it collapses — it looks like far too much, and then thirty seconds later it is exactly right.

Turn off the heat. Stir in the parmesan and lemon juice, then season generously with salt and black pepper. Taste and adjust — beans are thirsty for salt.

Serve straight from the skillet with thick slices of toasted whole grain bread for scooping, and extra parmesan on top.