25 Fresh and Vibrant Recipes to Cook This March

Use a peppery, top-quality olive oil to bring out the best in this spring salad, created by Jeanne Kelly, author of Salad For Dinner. Buy really fresh asparagus and radishes, from a farmers’ market if possible—that too will make a difference.

“The ingredients here are healthy and simple, and each one contributes to the flavor profile and color contrast,” says Chef Martin Yan. The northern Chinese soup is versatile too; omit the chicken to make it vegetarian, or add fresh water chestnuts for more texture.

Our fruit-studded, gently sweet classic bread includes plenty of butter, and baking powder as well as soda for a lighter texture. We love the savory note of caraway, but for friends who aren’t fans, we make a second, caraway-free batch—more for us of the good stuff, we figure.

Just a few deftly chosen ingredients make for an elegant, complex-tasting salad. Serve it with warm rolls and glasses of cold, crisp white wine (like a Grenache Blanc).

Although you can fry these little fritters a few hours ahead and reheat them for 10 minutes in a 350° oven, they’re crunchiest and taste freshest when deep-fried closer to serving. They’ll retain their crunch and flavor for about an hour.

Everything’s better with everything bagel seasoning, including Los Angeles restaurant Yangban Society’s grilled sugar snap peas. Crunchy, nutty fried shallots add earthy notes while lemon zest makes the whole dish sing. Note: Instead of grilling, you can also sauté the snap peas in a very hot cast-iron skillet on the stovetop.

Mashed potatoes meets butter-steamed cabbage: That’s pretty much all there is to colcannon, a dreamy Irish way with spuds. Surprisingly, it reheats beautifully if you want to make it ahead. The optional butter at the end? The answer is yes.

According to Ethan Speizer and Madison Gabor, both chefs at Napa’s Ashes & Diamonds winery, “In our world, a salad should be all things savory, sweet, crunchy, and salty. This salad absolutely fits that bill, with an earthy and acid-forward beet vinaigrette and a Hungarian version of the traditional Mexican salsa macha of sorts, which we dubbed ‘Salsa Hungara.’”

Fresh sorrel, a hardy, leafy green perennial, gives simple white beans a zap of color and a lemony tang. Farmers’ markets often carry it from spring into early fall, depending on where you live. If you can’t find it, swap in basil.

This salad is a light but still festive way to serve corned beef on St. Patrick’s Day–or to use up leftovers the next day.

Smoked paprika and other chile powders give this simple roasted chicken satisfying bass notes, while the punch of coriander honey makes this a moreish dish. (You know… you’ll want more of it.) Make the most of the hot oven and cook roasted root vegetables at the same time. The veggies are dipped in a Japanese Kewpie mayo crème fraîche. Kewpie mayonnaise is made with all yolks; it is thus richer than the standard stuff, and it enriches one of the easiest, tastiest sauces we’ve had in years. Make extra and put it on pretty much everything.

Chef Keith Corbin layers the flavor in this vegetable-forward vegan gombo (which is the Louisiana Creole spelling of gumbo). Red miso gives the profound broth depth, while quick-charred seasonal vegetables add crunch and color.

Usually flavored with five-spice powder, brown-colored pressed tofu is sold at Chinese and Vietnamese markets, which often have a barbecue shop where you can pick up the roast duck or find char siu Chinese-style barbecued pork, which you can sub for the duck. If you’d rather not use duck fat for the stir-frying, substitute 2 tbsp. canola oil.

The salmon takes almost no time to cook, so prep the radishes and rosemary before the fish goes in the pan. If your backyard rosemary is blooming, sprinkle on a few blossoms before serving.

Over the years, this recipe has been perfected with extra spices and Guinness, as well as long simmering until the meat is ultra tender. You’ll need a 12- to 14-qt. pot; if you don’t have one, borrow one from a friend, or visit a restaurant-supply store.

There’s just enough creamy rice to hold together the generous tumble of favas and their greens, which taste similar to spinach.

Our take on a Chinese-restaurant favorite uses the same ingredients, but skips the heavy batter and deep frying. If you can’t get jumbo shrimp, use 1 pound of the largest shrimp you can find.

Chef Josh Buckwald of Employees Only in Los Angeles created this verdant dish enriched by creamy burrata. “We love campanelle, cavatelli, or corzetti for this one,” he says, “But no wrong answers here.”

Inspired by the flavors of Chinese orange peel beef, this gutsy one-dish meal is made with fresh tangerine peel instead of the traditional dried. As you stir-fry, add 1 to 2 tbsp. water if the pan bottom starts to get dark.

Attention, citrus lovers: This dish includes zest in the lemongrass-chile rub, juice in the refreshing dressing, and peeled segments in the crunchy cucumber and shallot topping.

The marvelous merger of orange and chocolate gets even better when you pair blood oranges’ raspberry nuances with dark chocolate and a little Campari for complexity. The herbal, slightly bitter liqueur also helps keep the sorbet from getting icy.

These gourmet doughnuts can be prepared ahead, requiring only a quick baking once your guests arrive.

Warm, richly spiced fruit served over a cool, creamy base makes a sweet ending to a brunch. And it’s simple: All you do is infuse the pineapple with seasonings and rum, then roast it in a hot oven until the juices are caramelized. Many markets sell precut pineapple spears, which makes the dish even easier.

Streaks of berries throughout and more spooned on top make this classic Italian ice cream dessert a great finish to a spring dinner. For the most velvety texture, serve it half-frozen, just as the name suggests (semifreddo means half-cold).

This creamy, brightly flavored dessert is delicious served with your favorite cookies, but for a more festive presentation, alternate scoops with vanilla ice cream and pour Champagne over the top.