Portuguese recipe
How to make Grilled sardines
Sardinhas assadas
The whole coast, above all Lisbon
Whole fresh sardines sprinkled with coarse salt and grilled over charcoal, eaten with boiled potatoes, a salad of peppers, or simply on a slice of bread.
Ingredients
- 12 to 16 very fresh whole sardines, not gutted
- Coarse sea salt
- Olive oil
- Crusty bread or boiled potatoes
- A salad of roasted green peppers, tomato and onion
Method
- Rinse the sardines and pat them dry. In Portugal they are grilled whole and not gutted, which keeps them moist, and many people do not scale them either.
- Sprinkle generously with coarse salt and leave for about 30 minutes.
- Heat a charcoal grill or a very hot griddle pan until it is very hot.
- Grill the sardines for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until the skin is crisp and the flesh is opaque and comes away from the bone.
- Serve at once with bread, potatoes and the pepper salad, and a drizzle of olive oil.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
Grilled sardines are the smell of June in Lisbon, when the city celebrates Saint Anthony on the nights of 12 and 13 June with street parties in the old quarters.
Take the trip to Portugal
