Healthy Barbecued Sardines and Tomato Bread Recipe

Sardines are great as the centrepiece in a main meal, whether it be for lunch or dinner. This is because they have a very distinguishable, bold flavour.  They are also a great health food; full of plenty of omega-3 fatty acids, minerals and protein, which I will get on to later.

My favourite way of having sardines is to grill them on the barbecue.  This is very typical and traditional in Portugal, (where I seem to have been spending most of my time, lately).  I especially like the smokey barbecue flavour that barbecued sardines have.  I know they have plenty of little hairline bones in them, but generally these can just be chewed carefully and consumed with the rest of the meat. Or you can easily fillet them by running your knife down the centre of the back of the fish, in the traditional filleting manner.

In order to barbecue sardines, you need to be quite careful because they are dainty and when turning them over, they can easily rip apart or stick to the barbecue grill.  If you're going to do barbecued sardines this summer, why not try this recipe idea to accompany them; have them with tomato bread and a salad?

Check out this video idea of a barbecue meal my husband and I had when we were on holiday in Portugal for a month:-

One reason why I decided to up my intake of oily fish this summer, is because they are high in protein, which provides us with amino acids. Amino acids are used by our bodies to create new proteins, forming and repairing cells, connective tissues, muscles and antibodies. This in turn strengthens our immune system and delivers nutrients and oxygen throughout our bodies.

Sardines are also rich in vitamin D - this is great because not many foods contain it, and most of us rely on sunlight to get vitamin D - not good when you spend all day in an office.

Sardines are also calcium-rich when you consume their bones. This is fab news for people who are dairy intolerant (seems to be more and more people these days).  A 3.75-ounce serving provides 35% of the RDA of calcium, it also provides 60% RDA of selenium and 45% RDA of phosphorus. 

So I hope I have come up with enough reasons for you to try sardines on the barbecue.  They are just so light and fluffy and healthy!  Let me know what you think about this recipe idea, and please comment below. Feel free to subscribe to my youtube channel here and also please visit my Instagram page, my facebook page, my pinterest page and my twitter account.

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