I LOVE SARDINES, and I find it difficult to believe there are people out there who don’t!  When I was a kid and a few of our families would get together for  a Matança (butchering a pig as a social event), someone would bring what seemed like a an endless supply of crispy fried or grilled sardines and whole cooked sweet potatoes. A whole crispy sardine in one hand and half a sweet potato in the other = portuguese finger food.  If you have an outside charcoal grill, I recommend grilling these until extra crispy and eating them by hand, mopping up the leftover tomatoes and olives with a chunk of crusty bread.

Makes: 4 servings as an appetizer, or 2 servings as a small-plate lunch or dinner.

Ingredients:

For the sauce:

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 pound ripe red tomatoes (about 2 medium-sized), chopped

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

10 green oil cured olives, sliced in rounds

1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley

to taste salt and pepper

For the sardines:

4 sardines, cleaned and scaled, heads and tails intact

olive oil

to taste salt and pepper

chunks of crusty bread, to serve

Preparation:

1. For the sauce, heat the olive oil in a small pan over medium-low heat, add the tomatoes, olives, and salt and pepper to taste.  Cook for about 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and stir in the vinegar and chopped parsley.

2. Meanwhile, rub the sardines with a little salt and olive oil, and grill or broil for about 2 or 3 minutes on each side until crispy.

3. To serve, top the individual sardines with the tomatoes and olives and serve with chunks of crusty bread drizzled with olive oil.

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