Grilled Sardines

Ilya and I love sardines and buy them whenever we come across them in stores. Usually at Uwajimaya and occasionally at Whole Foods. If you haven’t tried them yet, I encourage you to. They have a distinct pleasant flavor and delicate oily consistency, which resemble those of mackerel and herring.

Our preferred method of cooking them is grilling and we do it in two different ways. One is super fast to prep, easy to grill, but a bit of a hassle to eat, especially for those who are not used to eat boney fish. The other takes more time to prepare, a bit trickier to cook, but very easy to consume.

We have no problem with “dirty eating”, whether it is buffalo chicken drumettes, whole crab, bone-in poultry or fish, so we use the first method more often. If you don’t like to pick the bones while eating, use the second method - it involves deboning a fish before cooking.

This is how we do it more often. Buy a bunch of nice sardines with clear, glassy eyes and firm, not mushy bodies. Slit the belly of each open from the vent to the gills and scoop out the viscera. Rinse the fish inside and out and thoroughly pat dry with paper towels. Season the interior of the sardines with salt and black pepper and put inside a twig of oregano and two thin half slices of lemon.

Brush the outside with olive oil and place on a well preheated grill. Cook on both sides, turning over very gently with tongs. If for some reason the sardines tend to stick to the grill rack, use a sharp metal spatula instead of tongs.

Serve right away drizzled with lemon juice. For the sides, we love warm pita with some nice smooth dip (skordalia, muhammara or hummus), grilled or pan fried haloumi cheese and grilled whole tomatoes.

If you host a more formal dinner, deboning the fish before cooking is much better idea.

Cut off and discard the sardines’ heads. Slit the belly open and remove the viscera. Rinse and pat dry the fish.

Put each sardine on its back and open it flat. Now run your thumb and index finger along the backbone releasing it from the flesh and then pull it out from neck to tail. Cut off the backbone at the tail, leaving the tail attached to the sardine. Pat dry the sardines with paper towels all over again.

For grilling, you can fold the sardines back or leave them flat or “butterflied”.

If cooking butterflied, right before cooking, brush the fish on all sides with olive oil and season with salt, black pepper and dry oregano. Cook on both sides, flipping it over very gently. The fish will tend to stick more with the belly side down so use sharp metal spatula to turn it over or remove from the grill. Drizzle with lemon juice before serving.

Last time I served such sardines drizzled with a lemon aioli with a side of green salad and smashed cannellini beans with yellow corn.

If cooking folded, season the interior with salt and pepper, top with thin slices of lemon and a twig of oregano or another herb (thyme, sage or something else to your liking). Fold the fish and secure the belly with a small wooden or metal skewer. Brush with oil all over and grill like a whole fish. When serving, remove the skewers and drizzle with lemon juice.

Remember that when deboning the fish, you only remove the major bones. Some small bones can be left behind and if the sardines are quite large, these bones are not soft enough to eat. So, pay attention and be careful when eating!