Prep 15 min - cook 10 min - serves 8
Spanish Sesame and Almond Picada
The pounded paste Catalan cooks stir into a stew at the last minute to thicken and sharpen it at once.
Before you cook
A picada is not a sauce you serve. It is stirred into something else in the final five minutes, where it thickens the liquid and lifts the flavour together.
Pound rather than blend if you can. A mortar bruises the nuts and releases oil; a blade chops them and the texture goes flat.
Method
Fry the bread in a little of the oil until crisp and golden on both sides.
Fry the almonds in the same pan for two minutes until lightly coloured.
Fry the whole garlic cloves briefly, taking them out before they darken.
Toast the saffron for a few seconds in the residual pan heat only.
Pound the almonds and garlic in a mortar until they break into rough rubble.
Add the bread and sesame seeds and keep pounding to a coarse paste.
Work in the parsley and saffron so the colour streaks through the paste.
Loosen with the vinegar and the remaining oil to a thick spoonable consistency.
Stir into a stew five minutes before the end of its cooking time.
Keep any leftover picada refrigerated under a film of oil for a week.
Comments
Loading comments…
Sign in to join the conversation.