Cast an eye to the image of this dish nestled cosily above these words and you’ll see that the most prominent feature is the rice, followed closely by the peanut satay sauce, with the lime possibly catching the eye next, followed only then by the extremely expensive, rare-treat monkfish.
This was not intentional framing, it was in fact the accidental result of a hungry and hasty fumbling with my phone, taken before eagerly getting the plate to the table. However, it is oddly enough very representative of my thoughts on the recipe: Great, rich coconutty rice; a lovely, not too strong satay sauce; and monkfish that was, although thankfully well-cooked, not quite at the level of the other elements. This may be my fault, I hasten to add, the spice mix for the monkfish should have been a dry one, I misread the receipe and mixed the oil with the spices for more of a marinade. It’s possible that following this more closely may have resulted in a more satisfyingly roasted fish, rather than the slightly "warmed through" feel that we ended up with.
This aside, I would say that I feel the recipe is missing some acidity, ending up a tiny bit cloying. I attempted to remedy this with lime, but honestly this wasn’t quite enough. Some more thoughts required.
From John Waites – Comfort, pg. 96