The King and Queen Consort have chosen a Coronation Quiche recipe ideal for the Big Lunches due to be staged to mark their coronation on May 6th.
King Charles and Queen-to-be Camilla shared the recipe for an open baked savoury tart, featuring spinach, broad beans and tarragon, on the royal family’s official Twitter account.
Quiche is a classic French dish, though it is said have originated in Germany in the Middle Ages with the word quiche coming from the German kuchen, meaning cake.
A Buckingham Palace chef, dressed in a uniform embroidered with the late Queen’s EIIR cypher, was shown making the quiche in a video posted on social media.
The royal family’s website described it as “a deep quiche with a crisp, light pastry case and delicate flavours of spinach, broad beans and fresh tarragon.
“Eat hot or cold with a green salad and boiled new potatoes – perfect for a Coronation Big Lunch!”
Coronation
For the coronation of the late Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, Coronation Chicken – cold chicken in a curry cream sauce with a well-seasoned dressed salad of rice, green peas and mixed herbs – was invented to feed the guests who were invited to Buckingham Palace after the ceremony.
Here’s Charles and Camilla’s Coronation Quiche recipe in case you want to try it for yourself. It serves six.
You will need: 1 X 20cm Flan Tin
Ingredients:
– for the pastry:
- 125g plain flour
- Pinch of salt
- 25g cold butter, diced
- 25g lard
- 2 tablespoons milk
- Or 1 x 250g block of readymade shortcrust pastry
– for the filling:
- 125ml milk
- 175ml double cream
- 2 medium eggs
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon,
- Salt and pepper
- 100g grated cheddar cheese,
- 180g cooked spinach, lightly chopped
- 60g cooked broad beans or soya beans
Method
To make the pastry:
- Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl; add the fats and rub the mixture together using your finger tips until you get a sandy, breadcrumb-like texture.
- Add the milk a little at a time and bring the ingredients together into a dough.
- Cover and allow to rest in the fridge for 30-45 minutes
- Lightly flour the work surface and roll out the pastry to a circle a little larger than the top of the tin and approximately 5mm thick.
- Line the tin with the pastry, taking care not to have any holes or the mixture could leak. Cover and rest for a further 30 minutes in the fridge.
- Preheat the oven to 190°C.
- Line the pastry case with greaseproof paper, add baking beans and bake blind for 15 minutes, before removing the greaseproof paper and baking beans.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 160°C.
- Beat together the milk, cream, eggs, herbs and seasoning.
- Scatter 1/2 of the grated cheese in the blind-baked base, top with the chopped spinach and beans and herbs, then pour over the liquid mixture.
- If required gently give the mixture a delicate stir to ensure the filling is evenly dispersed but be careful not to damage the pastry case.
- Sprinkle over the remaining cheese. Place into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until set and lightly golden.
See also: King Charles’ Coronation Pasties
