Defending the King
I never thought the day would come, but here I am, in my corner, staunchly holding a quiche aloft, defending the King of England. It’s all to do with the schemozzle erupting in the UK about what Charles and Camilla should be serving on May 6th. At the Elizabeth 11’s Coronation in 1953, a suitably posh, and one must say for the times, avant-garde dish of chicken with curry mayonnaise and apricot purée was served. The creators were the founders of the Cordon Bleu Cookery School in London, Constance Spry and Rosemary Hume. I never met Constance Spry but I did meet Rosemary Hume; she judged my first Cordon Bleu exam dishes when I attended the school for my first foray into the world of Cordon Bleu, the one where I dumped three times the amount of paprika in the main course of Fillets of Fish Hongroise (my face was as scarlet as the finished dish), fortunately to be saved by an exemplary Upside Down Pineapple Cake (phew). That’s a long time ago but I have never cooked that fish dish again. Below is a pic of Upside-down Gingerbread Cake with Pears. It is sensational.
King Charles is a lover of eggy things, creamy things, so he’s kept true to form with his choice of an eggy, creamy quiche for the Coronation banquet, but he’s planted a layer of broad beans in the middle of it, or there abouts, and that’s what has got tongues wagging. People in New Zealand who want to try the quiche are grizzling that broad beans are out of season here. As the event is taking place in the UK in spring, they are most appropriate. Time and place. Others are grizzling about finding them, the cost of them. Have they heard of frozen? Frozen broad beans are a great vegetable. They’re not as fast to prepare as peas, because after blanching, you need to flick them out of their tough little overcoats. Their beauty is then revealed: shiny, verdant and jewel-like, tender, oval shaped beans, ready to dress with lemon oil and herbs or to add to salads, or in this case, layer in a quiche. Perfect. Their slightly mealy texture will add substance to a wobbly, eggy quiche, and the colour, WOW, spring-like and fresh, an improvement on grey bacon and watery eggs so often found in poorly made quiche ‘wannabes’ in the UK.
Good for you Charlie! And you’ve thrown in tarragon as well, another thing the UK masses are tut-tutting about. Tarragon just loves eggs, and it loves cream even more. It cuts richness with its mild aniseedy taste, adding oodles of flavour. Oh, I see, no fresh tarragon … well, it’s one of those herbs that dries well, retaining plenty of flavour, so use dried tarragon by all means.
Rather than bicker about whether a quiche is pompous enough for a Royal Coronation, the more important question is this: Is a quiche for a King simply a quiche, or is it a QUING? Ha ha! A Quing! Why not?
The Quing, then, has upset many, but not me. I see the sense in it. A quiche is a sharing dish, a crisp pastry case (hopefully; soggy bottoms are sooo last century) housing a rich creamy concoction of whatever you fancy (just get the eggs to cream ratio right and add away). A good quiche looks good, smells appetising and tastes great. The King has gone for a little innovation with his Spring Quing. And I like that, too. He’s opted for a somewhat common dish the masses can have a go at making so they can have a slice of what the Royals are dining on, as they picnic here and there, dine at community events or celebrate with street parties. That sounds good to me. Imagine the uproar had he chosen lobster or crab: I guess surimi sales would have soared!
