March in My Tuscan Kitchen

March is always a threshold.

Mornings still ask for something warm to hold between your hands, while at lunchtime you open the windows and let the air in, carrying the first scent of flowers. Evenings are for soup, thick socks, and a blanket on the sofa. Just a few hours earlier, though, you might have been craving something crisp, bright, almost sharp on the palate.

This is the in-between season, when winter and spring sit at the same table.

In the kitchen, it means learning to move between contrasts: warm and cold, slow-cooked and raw, comforting and refreshing. It’s also the moment when everything begins again—when the pantry is restocked, the cooking classes restart, and the first truly seasonal vegetables guide what ends up on the table.

Here’s what March looked like in my kitchen.

The In-Between Season: Soup Weather, Salad Weather

There is a moment, every year, when I find myself craving two completely different kinds of dishes in the same day: something velvety and warm, and something fresh, crunchy, almost electric.

In Soup weather, salad weather, I wrote about this in-between feeling, and shared two recipes that have become part of my cooking repertoire: a fennel and dill soup, and a raw artichoke, fennel and celery salad.

The soup is what we would call a vellutata: smooth, light, almost silky, built from just a few ingredients. Leeks slowly soften into a creamy base, fennel turns sweet and delicate, and fresh dill is added at the very end to keep its green, grassy note alive.

The salad, on the other hand, moves in the opposite direction. Raw artichokes, fennel and celery bring different kinds of crunch and subtle bitterness, tied together by a simple citronette and lifted by the salty depth of bottarga.

Together, they tell a bigger story: the same ingredient can shift completely depending on how you treat it. Fennel, raw, is sharp and assertive; cooked slowly, it becomes soft and almost sweet. Once you see it, you start cooking differently.

Building a Cooking Repertoire (and Trusting It)

March also marked the return of our cook-alongs and a renewed focus on something I care deeply about: building a cooking repertoire. A repertoire is not based on recipes to impress, but on recipes to return to and dishes you cook often enough that they become yours. It is a small collection of reliable recipes that reflect how you actually cook and eat.

This idea runs through the entire month. Cooking becomes lighter when you stop trying to learn everything and instead focus on a handful of dishes you truly understand. 

The fennel soup and the artichoke salad are part of that: simple, adaptable, rooted in technique rather than rigid instructions.

Inside My Pantry: The Foundation of Italian Home Cooking

March is also when I open every cupboard and start again. After winter, when I try to use up what I have, spring brings a thrilling excitement: refilling the pantry, imagining what could be cooked next, rebuilding the foundation of everyday meals.

In What I always keep in my pantry for cooking classes, I shared what I always keep on hand for my cooking classes.

It’s not a list of luxurious ingredients. Quite the opposite. Olive oil, different kinds of salt, a few essential spices like black pepper and nutmeg, flours for different uses, preserved tomatoes, anchovies, beans, rice, nuts, vinegar. Simple things, but together they make everything possible.

A well-stocked pantry means freedom. It allows you to walk back from the market and ask: what do we feel like cooking today? and actually have an answer. It also teaches something essential: constraints are not limitations, they are starting points.

Even something as simple as my mum’s herb salt—made with rosemary, sage, garlic and salt—becomes a small, powerful shortcut to flavour, something that can transform a dish with a single pinch.

Spring Vegetables at Their Best: Fennel, Artichokes, Celery

If I had to choose the ingredient that shaped this month most clearly, it would probably be fennel.

It appeared in two completely different forms: simmered slowly into a soft, velvety soup, and sliced raw into a crisp, bright salad. That alone says so much about spring cooking in Italy: it is not only about ingredients, but about learning how texture, temperature and seasoning can change their character.

In Fennel and dill soup, fennel becomes delicate and almost buttery, softened by leeks and enriched with stock. In Artichoke, fennel and celery salad with bottarga, it stays crisp and assertive, paired with raw artichokes and tender celery heart. Artichokes, especially, feel like the vegetable that carries us from winter into spring. They still hold on to a certain bitterness, but there is freshness in them too, especially when shaved raw into a salad and dressed simply.

Spring at the Table: Simple Ideas for Easter and Beyond

There is more light, more colour, more desire for dishes that feel immediate and generous. And with Easter approaching, the question becomes: what can we bring to the table that feels both seasonal and effortless?

In Steal these ideas from our March cooking classes for your Easter table, I shared a few ideas from our cooking classes, not precise recipes, but combinations you can make your own.

Fresh fava beans, dressed with olive oil, lemon zest and herbs, spooned over a soft ricotta cream on slices of sourdough. A simple idea, but one that captures everything about early spring: green, fresh, slightly wild.

And then desserts, where contrasts matter just as much: a tiramisù built on zabaione, where the sweetness of the cream meets the bitterness of coffee and dark chocolate, creating that familiar balance that makes every spoonful interesting.

Join Me on Letters from Tuscany

If you enjoy this way of cooking—seasonal, simple, rooted in everyday life—you can join me on Letters from Tuscany, where I share recipes, stories, and behind-the-scenes glimpses from my kitchen and cooking classes.

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