Grilled sardines with lemon and parsley

Serves - 4

You’ll need

• 8 whole sardines, cleaned and gutted
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated
• Small handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• Sea salt
• Black pepper

Method

1. Get the sardines ready

Pat the sardines dry with kitchen paper and lay them on a tray or plate. This is worth doing properly. Dry fish is far more likely to grill well and pick up colour rather than sticking and making life difficult.

2. Make the lemon and parsley dressing

In a small bowl, mix together the olive oil, lemon zest, half the lemon juice, the garlic, most of the parsley, a good pinch of salt and a generous grind of black pepper. It should smell sharp, fresh and exactly the sort of thing oily fish wants spooned over it.

3. Dress the sardines

Rub or spoon a little of the dressing over the sardines on both sides and leave them for 10–15 minutes if you have the time. They do not need long, just enough to get acquainted with the lemon, garlic and parsley without losing their shape.

4. Get the grill properly hot

Heat a grill pan, barbecue or overhead grill until good and hot. Sardines want a confident bit of heat and not too much fuss. If using a grill pan or barbecue, brush it lightly with oil so things are less likely to stick.

5. Grill the sardines

Cook the sardines for 2–3 minutes on each side, depending on size, until the skin is lightly blistered and the fish is just cooked through. They should look bronzed and appetising, not dried out and overworked. Turn them carefully, as they are delicate once cooking gets under way.

6. Finish properly

Transfer the sardines to a serving dish or plates and spoon over the remaining dressing. Add the rest of the lemon juice and scatter over the remaining parsley. That last bit of freshness does a lot of useful work.

7. Serve

Serve straight away while the sardines are still hot and the skin has a little bite to it. Very good with crusty bread, boiled new potatoes or a simple tomato salad if you want to round things out.

A couple of helpful notes
- Sardines are best cooked quickly over fairly high heat, so do not hang about once they hit the grill.
- If you are cooking them on the barbecue, a fish basket makes life much easier and helps avoid unnecessary breakage.
- A few capers or a tiny pinch of chilli flakes in the dressing would not hurt if you want to give things a slightly sharper edge.