SARDINES…

I am trying desperately to acquire a taste for these amazingly healthy little fish!  I was spoiled back in May when we had the pleasure of my brother and my diet guru in town and we went to The Publican for dinner!  What a meal!  I got to try things that I never had the chance to try before and one of those was a sardine!  Bob and my guru fought over the cheek meat, I was just happy that I liked THOSE sardines!  Nothing like what you get in the can!  I did try the sardines in the can with water!  Big mistake!  I just couldn’t eat them and thought that would be the end of my sardine adventure!  Well, while at Mitsuwa on Saturday, I spotted the fresh little fish!  Bob made a tasty little treat!  He cleaned them and pulled out the backbones, added salt and pepper to taste, sprinkled some EVOO and lemon juice on them.  Grilled them on a high heat grill about 2 minutes on each side!  An EXCELLENT first attempt with these little tasty fish! I am so spoiled!  I don’t think I will ever even attempt the canned sardines again!  They aren’t easy to find and next time we do we are going to try smoking them! 

Just remember all the added health benefits.  They are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids seem to have the ability to regulate and lower cholesterol levels in the blood, as well as improving the ratio of good and bad cholesterol. It is this ratio between good and bad cholesterol that is thought to play a key role in heart attack risk, and this is one of the most important effects of omega-3 fatty acids in the diet. One small sardine contains about 25 calories, 1 gram of fat, 3 grams of protein and zero carbohydrates. They also contain 17 milligrams of cholesterol and 61 milligrams of sodium.