Rockfish’s slogan is Tomorrow’s Fish are Still in the Sea, but what if those fish can be on your dish 24 hours later, from the South West coast to your kitchen – fintastic!
Thanks to the team at Rockfish, I was offered a complimentary (#gifted) press preview of their new Seafood at Home delivery which is launching at 6am on Wednesday 5th January 2022. The early bird catches the… worm fish supper!
One positive outcome of the past 18 months for many businesses is innovation, trial and error, finding other ways to sell their goods as well as us customers being more open minded about what and where to buy. For Mitch Tonks and the Rockfish team, this included the release of their tinned seafood range, as well as a temporary meal-at-home kit during 2021 and they have now released an even more exciting offering on a permanent daily basis, changing the way you purchase fresh fish – their Seafood at Home delivery boxes! The full press release can be found here.
With fish caught on their boats at Brixham, travelling a few hundred yards to the Rockfish facility where the fish is cut, prepped and packed before being delivered to your door the next day – the online ordering system opens daily at 6am and closes midday, allowing you to buy the freshest catch live online!
You choose what you want to buy from that mornings catch, as well as from a selection of butters, sauces and tinned seafood. Once your Rockfish order is processed, you’ll receive your informative confirmation email, detailing what you will receive (this is what we received in our box):
Everything is fresh, from the coast to your kitchen and can be frozen, except for the smoked haddock which comes from carefully selected partner (and a favourite of Mitch’s) Alfred Enderby. A lovely and well laid out booklet arrives with your box which details the variety of cuts and fish, and what taste and texture you can expect as well as the best ways to cook them and approximate timings – simple and perfect for beginners, and a good inspiration and starting point for those who are more confident.
The jars of flavoured butters or sauces can be kept in the fridge and used as per their dates, and although the jars seems small, they have a lot in them and go far. The tinned fish, of course, will last for quite a long time.
Here’s our 1 minute reel giving you a flavour of what to expect:
Packaging and Sustainability
Your Rockfish Seafood at Home delivery is “sustainable from start to finish”, and there’s a great section in the booklet to let you know what can be done with the packaging. You can even send the box and insulation back to them for free via the post office!
Cooking with your Rockfish catch
I do love visiting the fishmonger section of my nearby farm shops but I’ve never been keen on just a price per kg, I’d prefer some cuts with their actual prices on so I can choose what I’d like based on a meal I want to make or my budget rather than asking the cost of something, them weighing it and me potentially saying “no thank you” (and feeling embarrassed), so to be able to buy a pre-cut portion is a big plus for me.
Keep reading on to see what I cooked with my fish and butters!
Smoked Haddock & Kedgeree Butter
As the smoked haddock needed to be used promptly, we decided to try this first. Inspired by the smoked haddock hash in the Rockfish cookbook (previously #gifted), we paired this with potato rosti, asparagus, an egg and the kedgeree butter draped over it. It was absolutely delicious and smokey as you would hope. The butter had a wonderful yellow colour, and you could spot a few fenugreek seeds once it had melted. We cooked the fish gently in milk, and rather than discard the smokey milk, we saved it for the next day. (see next meal!) Our order said 1 portion but this was a long fillet, and it served two of our hungry household.
Crispy Fried Pollack Fish Fingers and Mash
Pollack is very similar to cod. We cut the pollack fillets into fish fingers and used the salt and pepper squid recipe from Rockfish cookbook for inspiration for our coating – so we dipped the fingers into water and then into simply seasoned rice flour and deep fried for a couple of minutes – this produced a fantastic crisp coating for our fish. We used the leftover smoked haddock milk in our mash, and added more kedgeree butter. The fish was so fresh tasting and the mash a wonderful yellow hue (and light curry flavour) with some some tenderstem broccoli.
Brill T-Bone
Like meat, fish on the bone can be more flavoursome and moist. Don’t be put off by the thought of the bones though, the main bone in this cut is thicker and really obvious (almost like a lamb rack bone in structure) – you can literally peel the meaty flesh away.
I saved this fish for a date night at home over Twixmas. We pan fried then ovened this cut, and served it with roasted hasselback jerusalem artichokes (gloriously sweet and nutty and in season right now), cauliflower puree, and the bearnaise butter. The fish was creamy, firm yet soft and an absolute treat – a restaurant standard dish, but cooked at home!
Dover sole
The Dover sole was a gorgeous creamy yet flaky fish, we cooked it simply seasoned in butter in the frying pan, and served with cumin roasted cauliflower and hassleback potatoes.
Scallops
I’ve yet to cook the scallops, but I’m definitely planning to have the sweet scallops with the punchy romesco sauce, cooked on a small BBQ on the beach at some point soon for a luxurious outdoor treat post-sea-dip!
Tinned Fish
Fresh from the same waters, but preserved instead, we consumed mackerel and sardines for breakfast, with toasted sourdough bread and added a touch of Sriracha to the mackerel for that wake-me-up kick.
If you like the tinned fish as a gift for someone, check out our recent blog October and November highlights post where we share more information on these.
Seafood at Home verdict
This is the freshest catch you can buy (unless you’re lucky to have a local fishmonger). Well packed in sustainable packaging, labelled clearly, the booklet holds your hand as well as inspires, the fish is portioned ready to cook (we know a lot of people are put off by the perceived challenge of cooking fish and the look of it) and there are recipes on the website as well.
The sauces and butters literally do what they say on the tin and go further than you think. I found having the variety in the box actually inspired me to have more interesting dinners than normal – you know how it is when you get stuck in a rut. You can use the jars in other meals where you feel like it (like we did with adding kedgeree butter to mash, we’ve used the romesco sauce with shop bought fish cakes and grilled pork chops, and the bearnaise butter is perfect with steak too!). Be inspired by the variety on offer, and support our country’s economy and fish industry.
I loved it and would buy again! Order one for yourself, send one to a friend or family member as a treat, or even order one to your holiday home, and feast on the freshest South West catch, from the Devon coast to your kitchen, anywhere in the UK.
As the service was not live by the time of our review, we do not know the current fish prices (which can fluctuate anyway), or if there is a minimum order value for the Seafood at Home delivery.
Find out more and buy your Seafood at Home box online here.
Visit Rockfish on their socials here:
2022 © Disclosure – all images, unless otherwise stated are copyright of Dining Devon. These products were #gifted as part of a press preview. This means we have been given something complimentary in exchange for our views in the hope of us sharing on our socials. This does not affect our opinions which are not seen or pre approved by venues before we publish or share our experiences.
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