Grilled Sardines with Chermoula

Sardines are at their best in the summer months, and they are still one of the cheapest things on the fish counter. Both of us are big fans of anything with a bit of heat to it, so when I cook them whole like this I nearly always make a chermoula to go alongside. It’s a North African herb sauce, somewhere between a salsa verde and a marinade, and it is exactly what an oily fish like this wants.

The sauce is just herbs, garlic, spices, lemon and olive oil blitzed together, or chopped by hand if you’d rather not get the food processor out for something this small. Cumin and paprika give it warmth, the coriander and parsley keep it fresh and green, and the lemon juice stops the whole thing from feeling heavy. Make it first and let it sit while you cook, because it only improves.

Grilling whole sardines takes no time at all. Three or four minutes a side under a hot grill is plenty, and you’re looking for skin that has blistered and gone crisp in patches. The flesh underneath should be opaque all the way through to the backbone. Don’t be tempted to move them around while they cook, or the skin will stick and tear.

This makes enough for two as a main with some bread and a salad, or four as a starter. The quantity of chermoula here is just about right for eight fish, but it’s worth making a double batch while the food processor is out, because it keeps in a jar in the fridge for about a week and is lovely stirred through couscous or spooned over roasted vegetables. If you’d rather not deal with whole fish, my pan-fried sardine fillets on toast takes all the same flavours somewhere easier.