Picada

Picada, according to Colman Andrews, author of Catalan Cuisine, is one of the ‘bookends’ of Catalan cooking. It isn’t quite a sauce, it is a gentle, creamy, exquisitely flavoured medium with which to finish cooking fish or meat, adding body to the sauce. But instead of adding the neutral taste of flour, it adds a whole harmony of warm flavours.

Picada is made with toasted bread or fried bread and nuts, aromatized with spices, garlic and herbs. It can be made, au