Eating out is one of life’s great pleasures, but in these strange times, we all must embrace our home kitchens – and that includes the country’s finest chefs. And while your Instagram feed may be flooded with bubbling sourdough starters and murky-looking bottles of kombucha – “project” cookery, from ramen to ravioli – those used to professional kitchens are taking a more pared-back approach to quarantine cuisine. It’s one we can all learn from.

“When you work in restaurants, a lot of the time you’re eating this amazing rich food and wine, so it’s good to reset,” says Mr Tom Brown. The chef, who trained under Mr Nathan Outlaw, opened his debut restaurant, Cornerstone, in 2018. The modish spot in Hackney Wick has since become one of the capital’s must-visit restaurants. Beautifully understated interiors are matched by Mr Brown’s signature light-touch cookery, which puts the best Cornish fish and seafood to delicious use.

But until the restaurant can reopen, Mr Brown is focussing on simple ingredients and laid-back, low-pressure cooking. “I’ve mostly been taking this period to try and eat as healthily as possible,” he says. “Mainly fish, chicken, eggs, vegetables and rice. A typical day for me at the moment is working out in the park near where I live, then cycling to Cornerstone to check the place is all OK. I chat to a few chef friends every day, on the phone or FaceTime – just to try and make us feel we’re not too cut off from the industry. And of course, way too much beer and Netflix.” The chef has also been working with Hospitality In Action to help campaign for immediate relief grants for those working in the hard-hit restaurant industry. “People are out of work and have no idea where their next pay packet might be coming from, so we all need to do our bit to help those less fortunate than ourselves,” he says.

When cooking at home at times like these, says Mr Brown, it’s crucial to change one’s mindset in the kitchen. “We all need to live more thriftily. Use up your leftovers creatively and waste nothing. Don’t throw anything away – use vegetable peelings in homemade stocks; and broccoli stalks and cauliflower leaves to make things go further – and taste more delicious.”

If your attempts go awry, keep a bottle of hot sauce to hand. “I have it on everything – it’s my number one store cupboard ingredient,” says Mr Brown. “Condiments are saviours for making things more interesting, even if you’re not a great cook. And they can solve an experimental disaster in the kitchen.”

For the first of our series in which chefs share the dishes they’re cooking at home, Mr Brown makes us some mackerel on toast – an easy dish that punches well above its weight in the flavour stakes. “It’s a really simple recipe, it’s delicious, and the ingredients are readily available,” he says. “It’s a classic, but one that everyone forgets. If you’ve got leftover mackerel, simmer it into a pasta sauce, or use to infuse milk for a fish pie.” And the best thing to drink alongside? “A negroni – equal parts campari, vermouth and gin – come 5.00pm on a Friday, for after work (from home) drinks,” says Mr Brown.

Ingredients

1-2 slices of sourdough, or any crusty bread

1 tin mackerel in oil

1 large tomato, sliced

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Toast the bread then smear a little of the oil from the mackerel tin on the bread.

Flake the mackerel on top of the bread and arrange the tomato on top. Drizzle with a little olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Enjoy with a negroni.