MasterChef’s Gregg Wallace reveals how to make King Charles’ Coronation Quiche even better with a few simple ingredients
IF you’re still not completely sold on the Coronation Quiche, MasterChef judge Gregg Wallace, 58, gives some easy tips on how you can jazz it up and make it your own, as well as alternatives to the less common ingredients . . .
I do like the sound of the Coronation Quiche. It’s certainly rich, with the salty tang of a good cheddar and a little sweet bite of broad bean.
I DO like the sound of the Coronation Quiche. It’s certainly rich, with the salty tang of a good cheddar and a little sweet bite of broad bean.
All of this in a crumbly pastry case is a winner for sure.
Yes, it’s a little fattening with the butter, cream and cheese, but the King’s Coronation is a celebration, so why not indulge a little?
As Hayley found, making pastry is difficult.
It’s really tricky in everything from handling it once it’s made to getting a perfect, professional-looking finish.
I think it’s better to buy a ready-made pastry. Even better still, you can buy a ready-made pastry case.
If you are going to make your own pastry and you struggle to find lard, you can always swap it for butter, which also means you don’t have to spend more money on extra ingredients.
Tarragon is a difficult herb to find fresh, but I promise you that dried tarragon is just as good. If you can’t find either, then try shaving fennel as an alternative to get that aniseed flavour.
Broad beans are another ingredient that are really hard to find fresh.
They dry really quickly too, so even if you do get fresh ones, they may already be too old by the time you get to cooking.
Many chefs use frozen broad beans, which are usually available next to the frozen peas in the supermarket.
If they’re not in your local store, you could use tinned or frozen peas as a replacement.
There are also plenty of ways to play around with the recipe to personalise it a bit.
If you’re brave enough to cook the pastry from scratch, you could flavour it with some extra cheese, or give it a bit of kick with some dried chilli powder.
You could even flavour the filling with some dried chilli, curry powder or any spices that you particularly like.
A lovely idea if you like a touch of sweetness is to add caramelised onions to the base of the pastry before you add the filling.
Simply slowly fry some onions with a little bit of sugar, and Bob’s your uncle.
If you like your quiche meaty, then add some ham or fried, chopped-up bacon to the filling.
I would be tempted to add chopped chives or sliced onion to give it a better bite.
Chopped chives or parsley across the top would also give it an attractive finish.
If you want to take it one step further, you could remove the cheese and add smoked or tinned salmon with dill instead. Delicious.