Fresh Grilled Sardines!!

My quest to get some fresh-grilled sardines finally came about on Saturday!  It was just a coincidence how I got it, too.  We drove to a park with some friends to have a little barbecue.  It was rainy, so we took cover under the shelter in the park.  A group of Portuguese men were there, grilling up these fresh sardines.  Our friends set up thier grill right next to the Portuguese men's grill, and we grilled our shisk-ka-bobs and hotdogs while they grilled thier sardines and a few other things.  They were very generous, and offered us many of the grilled sardines.  (They had a large tub full of fresh sardines).  They also offered us some pork they grilled, as well as grilled sweet potatoes and onions.  We shared some of our food with them, as well.  They gave us each sardine on a piece of typical Portuguese bread.  My husband asked the Portuguese griller if he was a fisherman.  He said he was, but these sardines were from Spain, because the local ones here are way too small.  The sardines were good- he grilled them sprinkled with some coarse salt, and poured whatever he was drinking at the time (beer, wine) onto them when there was any grill flare-ups.  :)  We ate the skin and the meat. 

We were using charcoal to grill our food, but our Portuguese friends had two grills going- one big, stone outdoor one (built-in) where they were burning small logs and big sticks down to embers.  Then, they'd transport the embers to the portable grill they had to actually cook the food.  The result was a wonderful wood-smoked flavor.  (That got into our hair, and clothes.... lol.  My hair still smelled like wood smoke the next day, even after showering!  I smelled kinda like smoked paprika.  I didn't wash the jacket I was wearing right away- I wore it to church yesterday.  My daughter sniffed the air loudly and said "What is that campfire smell?"  I had to lose the jacket.  Ha ha!). 

The stone fire-pit where they would make their "coals" out of wood.  We borrowed it for marshmallow roasting when our grill got too cold.

Grilled sardines (and some kind of pork, marinated in wine and garlic) on the right... our shisk-ka-bobs on the left.

The forest surrounding the shelter where we cooked and ate.  This is one (rare) place on the island where we actually couldn't see the ocean!

We had a great time- we got to know our friends better, and we had the oppurtunity to talk to these extremely friendly Portuguese fishermen, sampling some of the local food, and culture. 

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