Your the man, Portugal says sardines to me. Fond memories of those grills. Cycling down an alley in Lisboa, **** scared, I was lost in a place I did not know.  Trying to blag my bike on trains. The smell of chared sardine made me feel good.
I met my girlfriend in Portugal. A beautiful place and people for sure.
Cornish Sardines or Pilchards are pretty good though.

sergio1972 wrote:

Being a portuguese my favourite way of eating sardines is simply grill them in charcoal. Just salt and nothing else. I mention charcoal cause if you grill them in an electric grill it wont be the same.

You can also do a Caldeirada which is a very simple stew. I've posted the recipe here on the forum so you should find it. Let me know if you dont.
I've a 3yr old son and he eats sardines. In fact he eats all the fish we give him. Or meat for that matter.

minerva wrote:

mincepie wrote:

Fish cakes ? You can oven cook if you dont want to fry......slow oven and turn often. But will kiddies like them Mmm not sure, these canned little fishes are very fishy flavoured.

Canned???? You can buy fresh on any good fish counter!

I can get good fat British Sardines/Pilchards very easily where I live.

I have never seen fresh sardines in any American fish market.  We don't even get mullet any more.  We did have red mullet when I first moved to High Point, but then I had no idea what to do with it.  Now that I do, I can't find it.  I almost bought some canned herring at Aldi today, but didn't.  I'm adventurous, but some in my family aren't.

sergio1972 wrote:

@nGoose1 wrote:

Your the man, Portugal says sardines to me. Fond memories of those grills. Cycling down an alley in Lisboa, **** scared, I was lost in a place I did not know.  Trying to blag my bike on trains. The smell of chared sardine made me feel good.
I met my girlfriend in Portugal. A beautiful place and people for sure.
Cornish Sardines or Pilchards are pretty good though.

sergio1972 wrote:

Being a portuguese my favourite way of eating sardines is simply grill them in charcoal. Just salt and nothing else. I mention charcoal cause if you grill them in an electric grill it wont be the same.

You can also do a Caldeirada which is a very simple stew. I've posted the recipe here on the forum so you should find it. Let me know if you dont.
I've a 3yr old son and he eats sardines. In fact he eats all the fish we give him. Or meat for that matter.

the most amazing things tend to happen here Goose  
I'm glad you have great memories of my country. Unfort Lisbon isnt quite the place to ride a bicycle. Its know to be the city of the 7 hills and believe me some of them arent easy to climb!!

I hit 30 kms of downhill coblestone, taking a shortcut up north. Two days later my tooth fillings fell out that was near Vigo I think. It was some time ago. Most of the hills were thankfully in The Tres Mares in Spain, that's another story.

Last edited by @nGoose1 (Wed 11 Apr 12 11:52pm)

mommyof2nc wrote:

I'm not a big fan of frying things, but if I have to fry something healthy to get my kids to eat it, I'll try that, too.

It's not as greasy as you might think, since there's no batter and only a very fine layer of flour clinging to the fish. and if you fry them very hot and very fast, the moisture escaping from the fish will keep it from soaking up oil.

If you want a healthier alternative, there's the traditional Croatian dish Srdele na suhoj tavi (Sardines on a dry pan), but since the recipe uses Adriatic sardines which are quite small, you can substitute brisling (you need something small since you'll be eating it with the bones in). First gut, wash and pat the fish dry. Then marinate them in olive oil (and nothing else). Put a non-stick pan (or even better - well cured cast iron) on high heat, and when it heats up just put some fish in (no to close together). Leave them on one side for a couple of minutes, then turn over. You want them quite well done, this fish isn't supposed to be soft and flaky, it's supposed to have a crunch. When all the fish are done, make a dresing with lemon juice, olive oil, finely chopped parsley and optionaly a crushed clove of garlic and dress the fish.