Batata Mchermla (بطاطا مشرملة)

The potato must meet the chermoula while it's still warm. That is the gesture that decides this dish. Cold potato sits there politely, taking almost nothing. Warm potato drinks the oil, garlic, cumin, paprika, coriander, and preserved lemon until every piece tastes awake.

Batata mchermla belongs among the small cooked salads that fill a Moroccan table before the main dish arrives, but don't treat it as decoration. Put it in the middle with bread, olives, maybe eggs or grilled fish if the evening asks for more. It feeds well, costs little, and leaves nobody feeling like an afterthought.

Cut the potatoes evenly so they cook together, then dress them gently so they don't break into mash. The scale is in the eyes, la balance est dans les yeux: enough oil to gloss, enough lemon to brighten, enough cumin that you smell it before you taste it. A table is a door you leave open, and a bowl of potatoes like this makes one more place without fuss.