Grilled Lisbon Sardines

I went to the family superbowl party on Sunday, and my Dad had requested that I bring sardines! So I did these Portuguese sardines. They are a lot larger than the kind you get in the can. These sardines are about the size of a small mackerel.

Based on what I could find on the internet, these are best grilled over a hot fire, with only some olive oil and salt on them. You can gut them either before or after cooking, but apparently the Portuguese like them innards intact (more flavour that way).

So here are the Lisbon Sardines - I used frozen ones (bought at the local grocery store). Brushed with olive oil and kosher salt.




The way to eat these is to place the grilled fish on a bun, ideally with some roasted peppers and onions. I would be tempted to open the bun, brush it with olive oil and grill the bun for a minute as well, but since I had to transport these to a party, I just brought plain old (Italian) buns.



I grilled these at about 425º for 4 minutes per side. These are really very tasty. The grilling brings out a lot of smokey sweetness, so they are high on the old (or is it new) umami scale. They were a hit! Everyone (who ate one) commented how good they were.

One note - if you don't want to eat the whole fish (and no one did), it is extremely easy to separate the meat from the head, tail, bones, and innards with a butter knife prior to eating. Takes about 5 seconds and the meat comes off clean. One fish is enough for a large Italian bun.

These sardines are full of the good oils, and those oils start to drip into the lump when you flip, so watch out for flare-ups. I also cranked the Egg up to 500º for about 20 minutes after pulling off the fish to make sure there were no fishy odours left. I cooked some skinless chicken breast tonight and there was no sign of fishiness, so I guess that plan was sound.

Try 'em some time - hot and crispy off the grill with a grilled bun. Really easy - practically no prep (although I had to scale mine), and simple.

Mark