Coronation quiche with spinach soya beans and tarragon

The King's coronation took place on May 6th, 2023. Prince Charles is now King Charles III of England.

The Coronation Big Lunch is an official part of a Coronation Weekend. This weekend had more than 65,000 Coronation Big Lunch events taking place in all four corners of the UK. Neighbours and communities come together to share food and fun over the Coronation weekend. 

Special foods for royal events is not a new concept - Coronation Chicken (essentially chicken salad with curry) became a British classic after it was served at Elizabeth II's 1953 coronation. 

This quiche recipe was revealed as the Coronation recipe for this Big Lunch. The dish was invented by Rosemary Hume, the co-founder of the Cordon Bleu Cookery School in London. 

Quiche is a good choice. It can be served as an hors d'oeuvre in small bite-sized pieces, as a brunch or lunch meal, or it can be served as a dinner entree.

Quiche is known as a dish of eggs, cream and spices in a pastry shell going back to ancient Roman times.

Enough history now here is the recipe! Which I would happily make again as a more interesting quiche combination than I have had in a long time. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Made with my favourite pastry brand Carême and I loved the touch of fresh tarragon and the pops of soya beans.

Pictured: Coronation quiche

Pastry -

1 x 250g block of ready-made shortcrust pastry – I used and adore the Carême brand which crisps up beautifully – you can substitute with any frozen pastry you prefer however. Or make this pastry if you have the time – 

125g plain flour

pinch of salt

25g cold butter, diced

25g lard

2 tablespoons milk

1x 20cm Flan tin or a few smaller tins if you like

Filling -

125ml milk

175ml double cream

2 medium eggs

1 tbsp fresh tarragon

salt and pepper

100g (or a little more) of grated cheddar cheese

180g cooked spinach, lightly chopped

60g cooked soya beans or broad beans

Pastry - If you making your own pastry do this step first or begin defrosting your ready-made pastry.Sieve flour and salt into a bowl, add the butter and lard and rub the mixture together using your fingertipsuntil it resembles sandy crumbs. Add the milk a little at a time, and bring the ingredients together to a dough. Cover with clingfilm and allow to rest in the fridge for 30 - 45 minutes.

Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the pastry to a circle about 5mm thick, and larger than the top of the tin.

Line the tin with the pastry, do not let there be any holes as you will be ;utting a wet mixture in this case. Cover and rest for a further 30 minutes in the fridge.

Preheat oven to 190°C, or 170°C fan forced.

Line the pastry cae with greasproof/baking paper and fill with baking beans. Blind bake for 15 minutes, then remove the beans and paper.

Reduce the oven to 160°C or 140°C fan forced to gently cook the filling - you can place the tin at the bottom of the oven to help crisp up the shell more.

Filling - Beat together the milk, cream, eggs, herbs, salt and pepper.

Scatter 1/2 the grated cheese in the blind-baked base, top with the chopped spinach and beans, then pour over the egg mixture.

Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Bake 20 - 25 minutes until set and golden - if the base is still a little "blond" give it a higher temperatre say 200°C and place on the bottom shelf for a few more minutes.

Serves 6