Monday 3 March 2008

Catalan chicken with picada

This is an amazing chicken dish which you really should try. The recipe came from Diana Henry on Market Kitchen which is a daily program on UKTVFood.
This recipe in it's simplest form is just a chicken stew but it has a twist and that is the "Picada". A Picada is a Catalan method of thickening stews and soups by using ground bread, nuts and sometimes biscuits. Herbs and garlic can also be added, this is then mixed with olive oil and a little wine to form a not very appetising (think gruel) but fantastic tasting paste. when added to soups or stews it thickens them as well as adding wonderful flavour and texture.
This is a revelation to me and one that I will definitely be experimenting with, I'm thinking lamb tagine...
Diana Henry's Picada recipe
  • 1 sweet biscuit, (such as Rich Tea)
  • 25g country bread
  • 25g pine nuts
  • 75ml dry white wine
  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
For the picada: grind the biscuit, bread and pine nuts in a mortar and pestle, or in a food processor, gradually adding the white wine and olive oil until well combined.

I really urge you to try this it is amazing and is very adaptable, change the ingredients to suit whatever you're cooking.

The following picture is the chicken I made based on the Market Kitchen recipe (link at the bottom of the page). It is a beautiful tomato based dish with onions garlic and thyme. But what makes it special and gives it a Catalan feel is the addition of pine nuts and raisins, not forgetting the Picada...
I served mine with roast squash and fresh Ciabatta.
The recipe can be found here: Catalan chicken with Picada

1 comment:

Thistlemoon said...

Yum, that does really look delicous! I have never used this method before, but it sounds great! :)

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