Salade Russe Marocaine

This is the salad you meet at celebrations, already cold, already waiting, while the kitchen is busy with the heavier dishes. It doesn't shout. It sits on the wedding table or the Eid table in a neat mound, pale and speckled with carrot and peas, giving everyone something cool between the rich plates.

The whole dish depends on the knife and the timing. Cut the vegetables small and even so every spoonful carries potato, carrot, and peas together. Cook them until tender but not tired, then cool them fully before the mayonnaise goes in. Warm potatoes drink too much and turn heavy. Cold vegetables hold their shape, and the salad stays clean on the tongue.

This is not old palace cooking, and I won't pretend it is. It came through French habits and Moroccan feast tables made room for it, because des cuisines marocaines are alive tables, not locked cupboards. Make it ahead. Chill it well. Set it down with olives, eggs, and khobz nearby, and leave one more spoon for whoever arrives late.