My favourite meal

Of all the food in all the world, my favourite dish that I always come back to and often crave like a lost moment from childhood, is plain old spaghetti with raw garlic and olive oil.

More than ripe mangoes, or raspberries and chocolate, or goat's cheese, or olives, or a home-grown tomato.

Maybe I'll add a little parsley, some salt and pepper; occasionally some fresh diced tomato and even a splash of balsamic, but in it's most pure and nostalgic form, the garlic and the oil are enough.

I think we must have eaten this a few times when I was growing up. It reminds me of late summer and Rimu Road.

It's also a meal that is closely related in my mind to poverty and necessity, but like many of the so-called 'peasant foods' it is an elegant example of how a simple meal, honestly prepared, can be so much better than something that has been over-worked, over thought and over priced in the name of 'great' food.

What is your favourite meal, and why?