Chef Isabel
Aceitunas Aliñadas Andaluzas
Andalucía's green olives are cracked just enough to drink in garlic, cumin, oregano and sherry vinegar, then left two days until the brine turns fragrant and every bite carries the aliño.
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Picada Catalana
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Picada is Catalonia's last word in a stew: almonds, fried bread, garlic and parsley pounded coarse, loosened with cooking liquid, then stirred in to give body and fragrance.
Sauces & Condiments
Spanish
Weeknight
Budget Friendly
Comfort Food
10 min
Active Time
15 min cook•25 min total
YieldAbout 140g, enough for 1.25 to 1.5 litres of stew or 4 to 6 servings
Picada is Catalonia's pounded finish: almonds, fried bread, garlic and parsley worked in a mortar, loosened with the pot's own liquid and stirred into a stew just before it is done. It isn't a relish to sit on top. In many Catalan pots, the sofregit, the slow onion and tomato base, begins the dish; picada closes it. This little mortarful binds the juices without flour and carries garlic, nuts and parsley through every spoonful.
The order decides it. I pound the garlic with salt first, bruise in the parsley, then work the warm almonds and fried bread while everything is still dry. Only when it has become a coarse, oily paste do I add hot cooking liquid. Dry pounding releases the almond oil and breaks the bread fine enough to thicken the pot. Add liquid too soon and the ingredients slide around the mortar instead of becoming one paste. Stir it into the final 5 to 8 minutes of cooking, enough to mellow the garlic without flattening the parsley.
Marcona almonds are lovely, but you don't need them. Ordinary raw almonds work; if the skins remain, the picada will be darker, flecked and faintly more bitter. Hazelnuts are another traditional Catalan choice, especially for meat or mushroom stews, though their flavour is deeper. A day-old baguette stands in perfectly well for pa de pagès, the round country loaf. No hace falta haber pisado España. The Margin beside this one says only: stop before smooth. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Picada takes its name from picar, to pound or chop, and belongs to Catalonia's old mortar tradition rather than to the family of sauces passed at the table. Medieval Catalan cookbooks already record nuts and bread pounded into sauces; the same structure closes suquet de peix, fricandó, meatball stews and bean pots after the sofregit has built their base. Depending on the pot and the household, a picada may also contain hazelnuts, saffron, liver or dark chocolate, but almond, bread, garlic and parsley form its plain, useful foundation.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
raw blanched almonds
Quantity
40g
day-old pa de pagès or firm white country bread
Quantity
25g
cut into 2 thin slices
olive oil
Quantity
45ml
divided
garlic
Quantity
5g, about 1 large clove
peeled
flat-leaf parsley leaves and tender stems
Quantity
6g
roughly chopped and patted dry
fine sea salt
Quantity
1g
hot cooking liquid from the stew, or hot water
Quantity
60ml
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| raw blanched almonds | 40g |
| day-old pa de pagès or firm white country breadcut into 2 thin slices | 25g |
| olive oildivided | 45ml |
| garlicpeeled | 5g, about 1 large clove |
| flat-leaf parsley leaves and tender stemsroughly chopped and patted dry | 6g |
| fine sea salt | 1g |
| hot cooking liquid from the stew, or hot water | 60ml |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy stone or ceramic mortar, 12 to 15cm wide, with pestle
- •Small frying pan, about 20cm
- •Digital kitchen scale
- •Small food processor, optional
Instructions
- 1
Fry the bread
Warm 30ml of the olive oil in a 20cm frying pan over medium-low heat. Add the bread and fry for about 90 seconds per side, until deep gold across the surface and firm at the edges. Lift it out and leave it to cool for 2 minutes, then tear it into pieces small enough for the mortar.
Keep the heat moderate. Bread that turns dark at the edges before the middle colours will bring bitterness to the whole pot. - 2
Toast the almonds
Add the remaining 15ml olive oil and the almonds to the same pan. Cook over medium-low heat for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring often, until the almonds are evenly golden and smell plainly nutty. Scrape the almonds and any oil left in the pan onto a plate. Let them stand for 2 minutes so they are warm rather than scorching.
- 3
Pound in order
Put the garlic and salt in the mortar and pound for 1 to 2 minutes, until the garlic becomes a smooth paste. Add the parsley and work it in until bruised and dark green. Add the warm almonds in three batches, pounding each before adding the next, then add the fried bread. Keep pounding until you have a cohesive but grainy paste, with no nut pieces larger than a lentil. Don't chase perfect smoothness; a picada should still show the mortar's work.
Add no liquid yet. The dry pounding releases the almond oil and reduces the bread to crumbs that can bind the cooking liquid instead of floating through it. - 4
Loosen and finish
Take 45ml of hot liquid from the nearly finished stew and add it to the mortar a spoonful at a time, working it into the picada. It should become a thick mixture that falls slowly from the pestle. Scrape it into 1.25 to 1.5 litres of stew, rinse the mortar with the remaining 15ml liquid, and add that too. Stir well and simmer gently, uncovered, for 5 to 8 minutes. The broth should gain a little body and a nutty, garlicky depth without becoming heavy. Taste for salt only after the picada has cooked through.
Chef Tips
- •You don't need Marcona almonds. Ordinary raw almonds are the sensible substitute; skin-on almonds make a darker, more speckled picada with a faint tannic edge. Don't use salted or flavoured nuts.
- •Hazelnuts are traditional in many Catalan picades and work especially well with mushrooms, beef, rabbit and darker sauces. Replace the almonds gram for gram and expect a deeper, more assertive nut flavour.
- •Use bread with a close, firm crumb. A day-old baguette is better than soft packaged bread, which drinks too much oil and turns gummy. Pésalo, no lo adivines: 25g is enough to bind the pot without making it taste of bread.
- •One batch suits 1.25 to 1.5 litres of stew. For a 750ml pot, make half the recipe. Picada should give the broth body, not turn it into nut paste.
- •Without a mortar, use a small food processor. Pulse the garlic and salt first, add the parsley, almonds and bread, then give it 12 to 15 short pulses. Don't let the machine run continuously or the almonds become nut butter and the parsley turns dull.
- •Picada is not served raw as a dip. Its place is inside the final minutes of a stew, where the garlic mellows and the bread absorbs the seasoned broth.
- •Keep uncooked picada covered in the refrigerator and use it within 24 hours. Because it contains raw garlic and oil, don't leave it stored at room temperature.
Advance Preparation
- •The bread and almonds can be fried up to 2 days ahead. Cool them completely and store them together in an airtight container at room temperature.
- •The picada can be pounded without the cooking liquid up to 24 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate it, then loosen it with liquid taken directly from the stew before adding.
- •For longer storage, freeze the unloosened picada in a small airtight container for up to 1 month. Thaw it in the refrigerator and pound it briefly before loosening; the parsley will be less bright, but the thickening power remains.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 28g)
Calories
135 calories
Total Fat
12 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
10 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
105 mg
Total Carbohydrates
5 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
1 g
Protein
2 g
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