Barbecued Sardines

For a while now we have been keeping an eye out for fresh sardines, so it was some coincidence that on the day that we decided that we were going to barbecue fish, we came across some Cornish sardines in Waitrose. We gutted them, then marinated them in olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper:

We also had some baby leeks that we coated in a little olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper before putting onto the barbecue. The barbecue was a little too hot at this stage and the green, leafy ends of the leeks got singed, but the white ends were mostly okay.

Then we put the sardines on. The barbecue was still too hot at this stage (impatience…) and the oiliness of the fish and marinade caused some worrying flare-ups that endangered my eyebrows at times. We kept moving them around and turning them (which was the main cause of the flare-ups) and they were soon cooked, albeit a little darker than intended:

Although they were a little more “well done” than intended on the outside, they were perfectly cooked on the inside and very tasty. The leeks were really good too and are something we should try again with a little more patience when the fire is not as hot.