YOU CAN spend up to £1,800 on a Weber Summit Gold barbecue with six stainless steel burners and rear-mounted infra-red rotating rotisserie — or you can spend £1.79 on a disposable barbecue.

Sainsbury’s, for instance, sells a reinforced foil tray topped with a wire grid and filled with charcoal approved by the Forest Stewardship Council. It’s great for people with little outdoor space, or who have those ineffective kitchen grills that designers insist on putting inside domestic ovens, because the fierce heat from the coals gives you that smoky, scorchy effect.

There are, however, a few points to remember. The first is to set it up properly, preferably raised off the ground between some house bricks. Light it and leave it for 30 minutes until the flames and the not inconsiderable smoke have died down.

Once the coals are covered in a fur of white ash, start by barbecuing a few vegetables. Slice courgettes lengthwise, cut sweet red peppers in half, thickly slice aubergine, brush with olive oil and grill on both sides until well marked. This has the added benefit of preparing the grill for the main event — with luck and a bit of olive oil, even the delicate skin of fish won’t stick.

In the past two weeks I have barbecued skinny lamb chops marinated in spicy harissa, Greek sausages, calamari (squid) and some beautiful little sardines. Torrential rain interrupted play only once.

Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 20 mins

Serves 4

8 large or 12 medium fresh sardines
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
4 courgettes
1 lemon, quartered


Dressing: 20 fresh mint leaves, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil.

METHOD: Gut and clean the sardines if somebody nice has not already done so. Slice the courgettes thinly lengthwise. Brush them with olive oil and grill both sides for about three minutes until well-marked, and remove to a serving platter.

In a bowl, whisk the lemon juice and olive oil with the mint leaves, sea salt and pepper, and drizzle over the courgettes.

Brush the sardines with some extra olive oil and scatter with sea salt. Cook them lightly on one side, then turn them while they are still firm, and leave to cook on the other side until the skin is scorched and bubbling.

Serve with the grilled courgettes, a tomato salad and a wedge of lemon. No barbie? Then do it under the kitchen grill, out of the rain.

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