← Nouns Cooking · Moroccan

Ingredients

• 12 fresh whole sardines, scaled and gutted
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• ½ tsp Salt
• 1 bunch Coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped
• 1 handful Parsley, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 1 Preserved lemon, rind only
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp Smoked paprika
• ¼ tsp Chilli flakes
• 1 Lemon, juiced, plus wedges to serve
• 75 ml extra-virgin olive oil

Method

1. Blitz or finely chop all the chermoula ingredients into a loose, bright green sauce. Taste and add a pinch of salt if needed.
2. Pat the sardines dry inside and out. Rub them with the oil and salt and tuck a little chermoula inside each belly.
3. Heat a barbecue, griddle pan or grill until very hot. Cook the sardines for 2–3 min per side, until the skin blisters and the flesh is opaque right down to the backbone.
4. Spoon over plenty of chermoula and serve at once with lemon wedges, bread and a tomato salad.

Tips

• Ask the fishmonger to scale and gut the sardines. Watch out for small bones.
• Fish basket or not, oil the grill well and leave the sardines alone until they release by themselves.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

BBC Good Food Great British Chefs