This light, fine-textured Moroccan Lemon Cake gets its delicious flavor from just one lemon. I find it a quick, easy cake to throw together when I'm looking to make something for tea time, snack time or even when entertaining. I think it tastes better the next day, but it rarely lasts that long.

Also try one of these other easy Moroccan Cake recipes.

Photo © Christine Benlafquih

Try this classic Moroccan Baked Fish Tagine Recipe when looking for an appealing one-dish supper for family or guests. Whole fish is marinated in spicy chermoula, and then layered with carrots, potatoes and tomatoes. Green pepper rings, lemon slices and a chili pepper or two top the dish.

The photo here shows the fish tagine ready to go into the oven. A reader asked today if using so many lemon slices turns the dish bitter. I don't find that to be the case at all, but you can always adjust the amount of lemon or omit the lemon garnish altogether.

Plan to serve Baked Fish Tagine as the Moroccans do - directly from the baking dish with Moroccan bread for scooping everything up.

Photo © Christine Benlafquih

Almost everything tastes good in a zesty Moroccan tomato sauce, and fava beans prepared this way are an ideal dish to present at a vegetarian meal. Although normally served as a side, you may be tempted to double the Fava Beans in Tomato Sauce Recipe and make it your entree.

You'll need to splurge on lots of fresh, ripe tomatoes if doubling the recipe, but there's no need to go to the trouble of peeling the fava beans. In many Moroccan fava bean dishes, the skins are left on and those who don't like them simply remove the skins at the table.

Serve with Moroccan bread for soaking up the delicious sauce.

Photo © Christine Benlafquih

In Morocco, mechoui is traditionally prepared by cooking an entire lamb on a spit over coals, or alternatively by roasting in a pit or clay oven. (The word mechoui literally refers to "cooking over an open fire.") However, mechoui can be prepared with large cuts of meat instead of the whole animal, and the mechoui I first tasted was, in fact, a delicious leg of lamb which had been roasted in a home oven.

I watched while my friend Fatiha prepared the mechoui. First, she made a paste from butter, garlic, cumin, saffron, salt and pepper. A little olive oil was added to thin it, and then the mixture was spread all over the leg of lamb and into deep incisions which Fatiha had made in the meat. The lamb was roasted with very high heat - it was done in about an hour - and I was amazed that such a fabulous dish could be prepared so quickly and easily.

Later I would encounter different roasting methods for mechoui, but my favorite is a very slow roasting method with low heat, taught to me by a friend in Marrakesh. While my friend seasons her meat with only salt and pepper, I still like to use the butter and spice spread that Fatiha taught me. My newly posted Moroccan Mechoui Recipe explains how to slowly roast a leg of lamb or shoulder, but also explains shorter roasting methods as well. Simply pick whichever one fits into your cooking schedule.

Photo © Christine Benlafquih