Serve succulent Sicillian sardines as the nights draw in.

With temperatures dropping the chances are that the BBQ won't be fired up any more this year so the glut of sardines coming ashore will need an alternative heat treatment to Big K charcoal......

instead, make use of seasonal local veg and dice a combination of some, or all, pumpkin, marrow, squash along with a pepper, courgette, red onion and a few finely sliced cloves of garlic - season, drizzle with olly oil and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180º......

in the meantime, scale two sardines for every mouth to feed, head and gut and then run each fish under a tap, gently rubbing a thumb from tail to the head to remove any remaining scales.......

dry and grill or griddle with more olly oil, salt n' pepper.......

untill the skin is crunchy......

serve with couscous prepared to your own taste preferences (use chicken stock instead of water along with a few fresh herbs like chives or coriander).