26 Recipes to Celebrate Spring
It’s late March, or rather that time of year where I bid farewell to soups, stews, and ragùs and reunite with lighter, fresher dishes that feature ingredients like fava beans and asparagus, mint and peas. That’s right: it’s finally and officially primavera, Spring, and the noticeably warmer, sunshine-y weather — not to mention the arrival of colomba season (!!!) — here in Rome have boosted my mood, red zone restrictions be damned. I may or may not have special ordered myself a bag of Cadbury mini eggs, too, because self-care.
But I digress! To celebrate Spring’s arrival, here’s a compilation of 26 of the blog’s springiest recipes. Below you’ll find dishes and desserts that would make excellent additions to your Easter menu (brunch, lunch, or otherwise) plus ones that highlight the best ingredients the season has to offer (including Rome’s oh-so-revered carciofo, or artichoke). Read on!
Want to see more of the blog’s recipe compilations? Click here!
MARITOZZI
The maritozzo — a classic Roman pastry — is a sweet bun split and filled with billows of freshly whipped cream. While these aren’t specifically seasonal, they would make a beautiful addition to any Easter brunch you may be planning. Click here for the recipe!
Colomba French toast
Did you end up with more colombe than you know what to do with following the Easter holidays?! Have no fear — use some of it to make this festive French toast (which also works well with brioche or cinnamon bread!) Lots of maple syrup is basically mandatory. Click here for the recipe.
Ricotta Pound cake
As simple as this cake looks, it is not to be underestimated. It is rich and buttery and dense, and the ricotta adds something special, making it extra fluffy and soft. When topped with a mound of juicy strawberries and a dusting of powdered sugar, it is true perfection. Click here for the recipe.
Strawberry Cream Biscuits
Buttery, sweet and delicately crumbly biscuits, with pockets of strawberries -- which have become soft and delightfully jammy in the oven -- sandwiched in between its layers. Each one perfectly encapsulates the flavor of a bowl of sweet strawberries and freshly whipped cream. Click here for the recipe.
Frittata Con FAVE E PECORINO
The frittata all dressed up for Spring — here we have salty pancetta, fresh, vibrant fave, and lots of sharp Pecorino. The eggs here cook up nice and fluffy and sunshine-colored with a deeply golden, slightly crisp bottom where they've hit the pan, and the whole thing is, in short, is splendidly delicious. Click here for the recipe.
Homemade Ricotta
A super easy recipe for rich and creamy ricotta, lovely spread on crostini with a dab of olive oil and black pepper, eaten alongside a handful of sundried tomatoes, served on toast drizzled with honey, or dolloped on pasta -- the possibilities, you’ll find, are endless. Click here for the recipe.
PANZANELLA PRIMAVERILE
A recipe that takes panzanella from Summer to Spring — here we have spears of ever-so-crunchy asparagus, lots of sweet peas. spicy red crisp radishes, mint, and bread toasted with lots of fragrant olive oil and garlic to give the dish some texture and extra flavor. Click here for the recipe.
CARCIOFI ALLA GIUDIA
One of my very favorite starters to eat here in Rome, carciofi alla giudia are artichokes fried whole until tender on the inside and crispy and potato chip-y on the outside. They're almost too pretty to eat, rose-like before frying and then bright and sunflower-like after. Click here for the recipe.
TORTA PASQUALINA
A savory spinach and (three) cheese pie with four whole eggs baked right into the filling, this dish is as beautiful as it is tasty. It would be perfect for an Easter brunch, as a starter, or as a hearty alternative for vegetarians who won't be eating the usual Easter lamb or ham. Click here for the recipe.
Asparagus pizza
Pizza in its Spring best, or rather topped with asparagus that is roasted until sweet and crisp, smooth, lemon-tinged ricotta, mild mozzarella, and sharp and assertive Parmesan, which turns golden brown and glorious in the oven. Click here for the recipe.
VIGNAROLA
One of my very favorite Spring dishes — this Roman classic has sweet onion and even sweeter peas, earthy artichokes and wholesome fave, plus a bit of refreshing mint. This dream team of flavors make for a dish that is addictive and surprisingly luxurious, one you're happy to eat a bowl of after just one bite. Click here for the recipe.
CARCIOFI ALLA ROMANA
Hailing straight from the Eternal City, this recipe makes for buttery, fork-tender artichokes (done the Roman way) which have been steamed and braised in olive oil until soft and lightly golden brown with just little bite from the garlic and a bit of brightness from the parsley. Click here for the recipe.
caponata di carciofi
A springier caponata that swaps eggplant for buttery, artichokes, which play its part in the varying flavor symphony of tangy vinegar, briney olives, sweet raisins, and punchy capers. This is a winning dish, one where every bite is a little different than the last. Click here for the recipe.
PASTA CON FAVE, GUANCIALE, PECORINO
Rigatoni dressed up with a cheese-y, peppery, sauce, meaty guanciale, and Spring-y fave — this is cacio e pepe meets gricia, Springtime edition, and a dish so good, it will make you forget any fava bean/Hannibal Lecter references that have been haunting you since you saw Silence of the Lambs. Click here for the recipe!
LASAGNE AI CARCIOFI
One of my favorite dishes I’ve ever come up with: fresh pasta sheets layered with velvet-y bechamel, plus two kinds of cheese (taleggio and Parmesan) and the star of the show, the artichoke, braised and steamed in lots of olive oil with a little parsley and garlic. Click here for the recipe!
FRITTATA DI SPAGHETTI E ASPARAGI
This frittata di pasta makes excellent use of leftover pasta. Its reminiscent of carbonara in its eggy-ness, with pockets of gooey scamorza and spring-y green asparagus for freshness and color, and the bits of spaghetti on the top become extra crispy and brown in the oven, swoon. Click here for the recipe!
‘Ndunderi with LEMONY PEAS
'Ndunderi (ricotta gnocchi) come together quickly and are far easier to make than potato gnocchi -- no boiling and ricing of hot potatoes -- and are different in texture, sturdier with a little more bite. They are wonderful when served in melted butter and lemon juice and cooked with sweet, Spring-y peas. Click here for the recipe!
strawberry cake
One of the earliest recipes on the blog, this cake tastes exactly like a fresh strawberry; it is moist and fluffy with a gorgeous color, too. I use a cream cheese frosting to offset the sweetness of the strawberries, but vanilla buttercream would be good too, if you prefer. Click here for the recipe.
BEST EVER LEMON TART
The lemon tart to beat all other lemon tarts: we've got a silky smooth, tangy filling, vibrant and sunshine-y and happy (if a dessert could have moods and emotions). The crust is shortbread-like, capable of complementing but not overwhelming the A+ filling. Click here for the recipe!
LEMON MERINGUE PIE
A forkful of this lemon meringue pie is -- to use what is perhaps an over used term, but very accurate here -- the perfect bite. It's a heavenly mix of buttery crust, tangy, intensely lemon-y custard and -- swoon! -- sweet, billowy meringue, golden brown and piled mile-high. Click here for the recipe.
lemon squares
These bars are boldly lemon-y with a generous amount of lemon zest as well as a good dose of lemon juice in the perfectly smooth, lemonade-like filling. A dusting of powdered sugar over the top makes these especially pretty. Click here for the recipe.
crostata di ricotta e cioccolato
Think of this as cheesecake that has studied abroad in Italy; the filling is made with ricotta and mascarpone, packed to the brim with bittersweet chocolate, the whole thing wrapped up and crisscrossed with crisp, golden brown pastry. It would make an excellent addition to your Easter menu this year, too. Click here for the recipe.
limoncello olive oil cake
A heavenly, lemon-y vanilla-y cake with an incredible texture and crumb thanks to the combination of olive oil and yogurt, perfect topped off with a thick and swirl-y and barely sweet mascarpone icing, beautiful adorned with a little extra lemon zest and fresh berries. Click here for the recipe.
strawberry cheesecake
My idea of a perfect cheesecake, a recipe I played around with for as long as it took to come up with this: a cookie crust, holding the silkiest of fillings in all its tangy, vanilla-bean flecked, lemon-scented glory, exalted even further with a generous spoonful of a tart-sweet and ever-so-purely strawberry sauce. Click here for the recipe.
carrot cake whoopie pies
The classic Whoopie Pie consists of two cake-y chocolate cookies that sandwich a vanilla cream filling; this recipe shakes up tradition, using carrot cake for the cookie part and cream cheese frosting for the filling. The result is basically a portable, easy to eat piece of carrot cake. Click here for the recipe.
BERRY TARTLETS
As delicious as they are pretty, these tarts have a crisp buttery crust, an intensely vanilla pastry cream, and lots of juicy tart berries. Fun fact: I was inspired to make these decidedly non-Italian or American tarts after reading Julia Child’s book, My Life in France. Click here for the recipe.