Easter

"My wife, Jean, and I run a coffee farm on the Big Island of Hawaii," writes George Fike of Keauhou Mauka, Hawaii. "I really love to cook, so we entertain a lot, and I enjoy planning the dinners as much as I do making them. I tell people the best restaurant in town is our house! Since I do most of the cooking, recipes must either be relatively fast or look after themselves." Based on George's mother's recipe, this is an easy, moist, and tender carrot cake with delicate tropical flavors and macadamia nuts. There are a lot of ingredients, but they come together in just minutes.

Oven-roasted red potato chunks sprinkled with chives; steamed and buttered baby carrots; and a limestone lettuce salad would be good accompaniments to this elegant main course. Finish with a strawberry-rhubarb pie from the bakery.

Neapolitan in origin, this make-ahead savory pie is delicious either warm or at room temperature.

Round out the menu with sliced radicchio, fennel and roasted bell pepper salad; crisp flatbread; and apricot sorbet with cookies.

Because this dish was developed to complement the strong flavors of Pork Loin with Morel Stuffing, we kept the seasoning in these vegetables to a minimum. If you plan to serve this dish with simpler fare, you might want to increase the amount of garlic and herbs.

A good cut of meat for this recipe is the butt portion of a bone-in, water-added ham. For optimum flavor, I like to prebake the ham, then simply slice away what I need from the bone.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Serve this newfangled main-course salad with a crisp flatbread, such as lavash, and white wine or rosé spritzers.

Chervil's delicate anise flavor enhances the season's baby vegetables. If you don't have chervil, substitute fresh dill.