Top Three Ingredients for March

1.Hot Cross Buns

Easter would not be easter without hot cross buns.Traditionally, these little spiced buns are meant to be eaten on Good Friday, however come late February and the beginning of March you are sure to see them pop up in bakeries and supermarkets.

Sweet spiced bread studded with fruit (or chocolate) and decorated with a cross, hot cross buns are best eaten toasted and spread generously with butter. I have to admit though that I have always enjoyed them with melted cheese. The spiced bun and melted cheese create the perfect balance of sweetness and salty creaminess for a delicious treat.

Buy hot cross buns that are baked fresh. Most bakeries these days make their own at easter time and taste far superior to ones that have been sitting on supermarket shelves for a week.

Eat them toasted with your favourite condiment or spice up a bread and butter pudding by replacing the bread with hot cross buns.

2. Radicchio
A salad green native to Italy, radicchio first made an appearance in Australia in the 1980's. Part of the chicory family, radicchio has chianti coloured to cream leaves in a round tightly packed head similar to lettuce. Another variety available in Australia is radicchio di Treviso which is elongated in shape with loosely bunched purplish red leaves with cream veins.

Known for its bitterness, radicchio is best bought in the winter months when it has a good balance of peppery bitterness. Radicchio is also great grilled or pan fried. The leaves wilt and char and the bitterness becomes milder.

Add radicchio to salads for extra flavour and colour, grill it and serve it with fruity olive oil and sea salt or stir shredded radicchio through pastas and risottos.

Look for radicchio that is tight and compact and the root doesn't look old and dry. Store it in the refrigerator wrapped in damp kitchen paper for up to 5 days.

Being a salad leaf radicchio grows in sandy earth so make sure to wash well before using.

3. White anchovies
Hear the word anchovy and you either say you love them or loath them. White anchovies however are a different story altogether.

Instead of being cured in salt and oil, white anchovies are cured in vinegar. Where regular anchovy fillets are salty; accentuating their fishiness and have a unique tough texture, white anchovies are cured in a vinegar giving them a milder flavour.

Often referred to as Spanish or Sicilian white anchovies, they are far more delicate in fishy flavour and texture to their hairy cousins and make them great to add to sauces, pastas, on toast and in salads.

Use them as alternative to where you would use regular anchovies for a more subtle flavour.

They keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 6 months. Look for white anchovies that look plump and are stored in oil.