What we cook when the lemons come in

In March the terraces below the hotel turn yellow, and for six weeks the kitchen runs on lemons. They are sfusato amalfitano, the long, knobbly lemons of this coast, with thick fragrant skin and so little bitterness you can eat the pith. My grandparents planted the first terraces in 1978. We still pick them by hand, carry them up in wicker baskets and use every part, from the zest to the leaves.

These are the four dishes that come out of the kitchen every year when the harvest arrives. If you are staying with us in spring, you will probably taste all of them.

Lemon ravioli

Ricotta from a farm in Agerola, lemon zest and a little mint, folded into pasta rolled so thin you can read through it. We finish them with brown butter and a few more strips of zest. It is the dish guests ask about most, and Nonna Rosa still makes every batch by hand on Thursday mornings, at the marble table by the kitchen window.

Fish baked in lemon leaves

Whatever the boats bring in, usually sea bream or a small snapper, is wrapped in lemon leaves and baked in the wood oven. The leaves do not get eaten, but they leave the fish tasting of the terrace: green, bright and faintly floral. We serve it whole, with a salad of fennel and blood orange.

If it didn’t grow on the terrace this morning, it isn’t on the menu tonight. In spring, that means lemons in almost everything.

Lemon and anchovy spaghetti

This is the dish we cook for ourselves at the end of service. Anchovies from Cetara melted into olive oil, a whole lemon’s worth of zest, a squeeze of juice and toasted breadcrumbs instead of cheese. It takes twelve minutes, and it is the reason I came home to cook here after ten years away.

Delizia al limone

A small dome of sponge soaked in limoncello syrup, filled with lemon custard and covered in lemon cream. It was invented in Sorrento in the 1970s and is now served all along the coast, but ours is made with our own limoncello. We serve it cold on the terrace, with a glass of something sweet and the sound of the sea below.

What we keep for later

Not every lemon is eaten in March. We make limoncello from the zest, preserve the smaller fruit in salt for the summer menu and dry the peel for the winter cakes.

• Limoncello: about 200 bottles a year, poured on arrival

• Salted lemons: chopped into salsa verde for grilled fish

• Candied peel: folded into the Christmas panettone

If you would like to see how it is done, join Nonna Rosa for her pasta class on a Thursday morning. You will leave with flour on your shirt, the secret of her ravioli and a jar of salted lemons in your suitcase.