Grilled Sardines with Lemon and Herb Sauce Recipe

Grilled sardines with lemon and herb sauce is a simple fish dish that lets the sardines really shine, the simple herby green sauce is all you need to complement the flavours and is perfect to drizzle over. Sardines are small oily fish with a rich flavour. They get their name from the Italian island of Sardinia, where they were once in plentiful supply. Tinned sardines are widely available, and a great store cupboard ingredient, but to make these grilled sardines, we’d recommend buying fresh. This simple recipe for grilled sardines is full of Mediterranean flavours that will transport you to sunny shores. Typical BBQ fare can be very meat heavy, so adding a fish option makes a really nice change. These grilled sardines are perfect served with a simple potato salad, or some crusty bread to mop up the extra sauce.

Ingredients

• 16 sardines, gutted
• 100ml extra virgin olive oil
• handful each fresh basil, flat-leaf parsley and coriander
• juice of 1 large lemon
• 2tbsp capers

Method

1. Brush the fish all over with some of the olive oil to prevent it from sticking. We’d recommend using a fish grill for sardines or any smaller fish as it makes easy work on the barbecue. Leave the sardines in the fridge while you make the sauce.
2. To make the sauce, simply blitz the herbs with the remaining oil, lemon juice and capers in a food processor until smooth.
3. Grill the sardines on a hot barbecue for a few mins on each side or pop under the grill (the fish grill still works brilliantly here). Transfer the grilled sardines onto a serving plate and drizzle over the sauce, serving the rest on the side with extra lemon wedges.