Where is the recipe from?
The Royal Family website
Ingredients & any changes made?
milk, double cream, eggs, chopped fresh tarragon, Salt and pepper,
grated cheddar cheese, cooked spinach,broad beans or soya beans
There is also a recipe for pastry, which included both lard and butter.
A couple of changes. A sudden rush on fresh tarragon meant I had to rethink and opted for dried. Broad beans were not available anywhere, so I left them out altogether.
I did follow the pastry recipe but changed the lard for Trex as I am not a fan of lard.
Verdict?
The negatives first.
As someone who makes pastry on a fairly regular basis I wasn't afraid to try out their recipe, but had no intention of buying lard. Struck me as quite odd that a vegetarian quiche would instantly be made unsuitable for vegetarians by it's lardy pastry!
So with the substitution of Trex for lard I followed the recipe. Total disaster. It was so crumbly and measly in amount that I gave up. The probelm is they have given quantities for a very specific quiche tin, it's smaller than most people have so you'd have to source the exact same size in order for the amount of pastry. Perhaps it would have been better with lard, but I found it a very mean recipe and it really didn't work for me. Luckily I had a small amount of ready made in the freezer so defrosted and used that. Didn't really have enough so had to roll it thinly, hence the raggedy edges as I didn't dare trim it too much before cooking.
The filling was pretty much kept as it was meant to be. Sans broad beans, because I really don't think it's the season for them just yet. Could not find a single bean and didn't fancy soya beans so left them out.
After those changes, what was my verdict?
Lovely. This is a really nice quiche. A different one. Usually I will make quiche with mushrooms, onions, slices of tomato on the top. Nor do I use cream in the filling, the difference was noticeable. So to me personally this is a complete change and something I'd order in a restaurant and then wonder why I never used these particular ingredients myself. Spinach and Tarragon are superb together. Tarragon is a herb I often buy, but not with the intention of putting it in a quiche. It really was a revelation.
There have been complaints about this recipe. But it's very King Charles. I can absolutely imagine he and Camilla sitting down to eat it on a sunny afternoon in Windsor. It's light and - if you leave out the lard - adaptable to many dietary requirements.
In my view, this is a pretty perfect quiche for a special occasion.
