Your perfect meal

[cristina]

I did a cursory glance to see if there was a similar thread already - apologies if I missed it.

I read this article today about the Sole Meuniere that Julia Child had in Rouen - her very first meal in France - which was part of her inspiration for her her midlife career change.

It made me start thinking about about some of those "perfect meals" that I have enjoyed in my lifetime. Many of those meals were made by my mother, and many perfect meals have been more about the company than the food, but I do have a restaurant meal that sticks out in my mind.

Before my mother became a fabulous cook, she cooked what she knew. Since what she knew was Newfoundland, her repertoire included a lot of cod. So as a child, I grew to hate any fish without a shell.

Early in my working career (I was maybe 24 or so), I was in Philadelphia and took a client to lunch at Suzanne's (which sadly seems to no longer exist). My client urged me to try the Dover Sole (although not meuniere style) and I did to be polite. Even though I really did detest fish.

Needless to say, I thought I had died and gone to heaven right on the spot. It is still, many years later a sublime moment that I can recall as if it was yesterday.

I've had other splendid dining experiences since then, but that one was the one that made me open my mind to trying things I had closed myself off to.

What have been your perfect meals?

[imec]

Local restaurant - "bistro" type place (actually called Bistro 7 and 1/4).

Bowl of properly cooked Puy lentils with shallots, topped by a perfectly poached egg. It was an honest preparation, completely lacking in pretense and was the perfect meal for a cold January day.

[Deleted]

Mine also involved fish. First a cup of my husband's Gumbo Z'herbes (a gumbo with all fresh greens,turnip,collard,mustard),then a fresh caught that day,filet of trout,pan fried with meuniere sauce,accompanied by a small mixed green salad with a vinaigrette dressing,baguette on the side.Meyer lemon sorbet for dessert.

[bixaorellana]

Lovely thread idea, Cristina!

I'd have to say that I would give anything you name to be sitting at the kitchen table at my grandmother's, with it all spread with newspaper for a boiled shrimp or crawfish feast. Of course, it would require people who are no longer with us to be there, like my uncle, whose hands were a blur when peeling shellfish. God, to be able to dig through the discard pile of the finicky eaters for the unsucked heads, to drink out of a beer bottle sticky with shellfish juice and seasoning, to try to snag a saltine out of the wrapper ............ it was the finest bliss.

[Deleted]

There were a number of perfect meals organized in my grandparents' garage, when their 'spiritual son' Bébert (real name Mohamed) would fix a couscous for 20 or so villagers, boiling the meat all day in the spicy broth, sifting the semolina the traditional way through his fingers with butter, cutting up all of the vegetables fresh from the garden and cooking them in the broth... My grandfather would buy bottles of Sidi Brahim Algerian wine to go with this, but as the evening wore on, he would go down to cellar for some of his more special bottles.

(I should add that couscous has risen back to #1 as the absolute favorite dish in France in recent polls.)

[existentialcrisis]

I've had many perfect meals, but what comes to mind are the ones my Indian room mate used to make for me. Her grandmother would send her a box of homemade samosas, rotis, curry powder, chutneys and things. I remember the first time she made me the most delicious chickpea curry I've ever eaten, wrapped in a homemade roti with homemade tamarind sauce and pickled carrots and hot peppers.... soooooo good.