Our Money team interview top chefs from around the UK every month, hearing about their cheap food hacks, views on the industry and more.
Today, we speak to TV regular Mitch Tonks, founder and chief executive of the Rockfish restaurants.
Tinned seafood is like a time capsule… perfectly preserved fish that are bursting with flavour. A very good budget-friendly recipe is tinned sardines with tomatoes and tagliatelle – you don’t need many ingredients, and it’s super quick to make (and still incredibly tasty). Another favourite of mine is tinned mackerel shawarma: you shred cabbage, red onion and some green chilli and mix together, before grating garlic into some yoghurt and tossing the lot together. Lay out a flour tortilla and bread with some hummus, place the cabbage on top, then top with mackerel, a sprinkling of zaatar or cumin, a squeeze of lemon and wrap the whole thing up like a shawarma.
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The best place in the world for seafood… is northern Spain. It is always somewhere that inspires me. I love the culture of eating in Sidrerias (cider bars), and they’ve actually had a huge influence on the interior design of our two newest Rockfish restaurants, in Salcombe and Lyme Regis. Porto in Portugal has also always stirred something in me – I love the outside grills where seafood gets the simple treatment, cooked over charcoal and served with seasonal vegetables and cold beer. Beautiful.
As a chef with a 25-year career in seafood, Brexit has done… nothing good for UK fishing. Our fishermen have lost access to key 12-mile limits, while French fleets continue to fish in our waters under extended rights. Exporting to Europe has become more expensive and tangled in red tape. And at the heart of it all is this uncomfortable truth: we don’t eat our own fish. As long as we rely on Europe to buy what we land, we’re always going to be on the back foot. The only real answer is simple: we need to start eating more of our own seafood, especially the primary species landed right here in the UK.
An underrated and cheap fish I love is… sardines! They’re great pickled, fantastic grilled, wonderful on toast, and delicious in oils. That’s why we’ve tinned them, it’s a real art form. They’re so versatile and incredibly affordable with immediate flavour.
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One thing I always find fascinating about the seafood we eat is… how many incredible local species are underappreciated. As an island, we should be celebrating British seafood more – yet so many delicious fish, such as red mullet, gurnard and cuttlefish, rarely get the attention they deserve. They’re incredibly versatile, and the best way to cook and enjoy them? Keep it simple. Don’t overpower the fish – let it shine.
A tip for anyone buying seafood is… always ask where it comes from and make sure it’s sustainably caught. Be curious about what’s on your plate – it makes all the difference for flavour and for the future of our oceans.
Restaurateurs or chefs should stop… putting food on square plates, covering things in foam and producing overly-long tasting menus.
If I were prime minister for one day, I would… lower VAT to give businesses more oxygen. I would reverse seasonal national insurance. I would forget the introduction of the new employers’ bill, which adds extra burden and complexity to doing business. If the government were to give businesses a level playing field, there would be more investment, more profits and ultimately more tax revenues.
One shop-bought item that can never be beaten by home cooks is… kewpie mayonnaise. It cannot be beaten.
Whenever I fancy a cheap eats place for a £15 meal or less, I go for a… fresh umami hit at Goto Japanese in Exeter. I can get four or five pieces of sushi or a bowl of their seafood ramen plus a tea for under £15 and it always feels like I’ve had something of great quality.
