Partridge or Quails with Garlic, Almonds and Orange

This recipe relies on two Catalan essentials, a sofregit, which is in this case a rich and complex tomato and vegetable sauce, and a picada to hold the sauce together. A picada is ‘one of the bookends of Catalan cuisine,’ according to Colman Andrews, author of Catalan Cuisine. I love the word picada – it isn’t quite a sauce in itself, unless you think of bread sauce perhaps,