To mark the official coronation of King Charles III as the UK’s reigning monarch, Coronation Big Lunches will bring communities together over a special Bank Holiday Coronation weekend. King Charles III and Queen Camilla have announced a quiche as the official coronation dish. Devised by a Buckingham Palace chef, the idea is that people will cook it at home as part of a Coronation Big Lunch, a nationwide and international feast.
Like Queen Elizabeth’s 1953 coronation chicken, it reveals much about the inevitability of multiculturalism in the kitchen. The message of any British coronation is arguable that we should celebrate Britishness.
There are also three other official recipes that were released to give the population more cooking options for Coronation Big Lunches.
- Rack of lamb, with Asian-style marinade made by celebrity Chinese chef Ken Hom.
- Coronation aubergine by Nadiya Hussain.
- For dessert: zingy strawberry and ginger trifle by Adam Handling.
French culinary influence
Any cultural animosity between the British and the French is held with much greater ambivalence in the kitchen than elsewhere. New trends from across the channel have long influenced fine dining in Britain. When George IV employed the most celebrated chef of his day, Antonin Carême, to cook in his London and Brighton homes in 1816, Carême observed that much of Britain’s diet was, in fact, French.
In opting for a French dish, Charles thus follows in the footsteps of his forebears. A French chef devised George V’s English Christmas pudding. And Elizabeth II’s menu for her coronation lunch, much like that for George IV’s coronation banquet, was written almost entirely in French, though it told a British story.
Coronation Quiche
Equipment
Ingredients
Pastry
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- Pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp. butter cold, diced
- 2 tbsp. lard
- 2 tbsp. milk
- 1 ready-made shortcrust pastry optional
Filling
- 1/2 cup milk
- 3/4 cup whipping cream
- 2 medium eggs
- 1 tbsp. fresh tarragon chopped
- 1 pinch salt and pepper
- 1 cup cheddar cheese grated
- 1 cup spinach cooked, lightly chopped
- 1/2 cup fava beans or soya beans cooked
Instructions
Make 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 an 8" quiche pan, approximately 1/4 inch 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 375°F /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 325°F/160°C.
Make the Filling
- 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.
- Eat hot or cold with a green salad and boiled new potatoes – perfect for a Coronation Big Lunch!”
Nutrition
