The British royal family has announced the official dish to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III on May 6 – a light quiche with a cheesy, herby filling.

Head chef of the Royal Household Mark Flanagan created the “coronation quiche” to be served (hot or cold, with a green salad and boiled potatoes) at Coronation Big Lunch events across the UK.

The springtime dish, which includes spinach, broad beans, tarragon and British cheddar in a deep shell of shortcut pastry, was personally chosen by the King and Queen Consort for its adaptability, affordability and ease of sharing.

The choice is said to reflect King Charles’s love of gardening and cheesy baked eggs (so used in one of the King’s favourite recipes shared by Clarence House during the height of the COVID pandemic).

In a taste test for The Guardian, award-winning UK food writer Felicity Cloake described it as “so packed full of vegetables it’s more like a spinach pie than a quiche”.

It follows the signature dish for the 1953 coronation for the late Queen Elizabeth II, the “poulet reine Elizabeth” or, as it became more commonly known, “coronation chicken”.

The recipe for coronation chicken is credited to British food writer and high-society florist Constance Spry and founder of Le Cordon Bleu cooking school Rosemary Hume.

It combined mild curry powder, tomato paste, red wine, mayonnaise and unsweetened whipped cream to create an Indian-inspired chicken dish that went on to enjoy widespread popularity as a sandwich filling.

Lesser-known dishes created to celebrate royal milestones include the “jubilee chicken” (a citrusy baked chicken served with pasta salad for Elizabeth II’s golden jubilee in 2002); and the “platinum pudding” (a lemon and amaretti trifle for the platinum jubilee in 2022).

Coronation quiche recipe

One 20cm flan tin serves six

Ingredients

Pastry
125g plain flour
Pinch of salt
25g cold butter, diced
25g lard
2 tablespoons milk
Or 250g block of readymade shortcrust pastry

Filling
125ml milk
175ml double cream
2 medium eggs
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon, chopped
100g cheddar cheese, grated
180g cooked spinach, lightly chopped
60g cooked broad beans or soya beans

Method

1. To make the pastry: Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl; add the fats and rub the mixture together using your fingertips 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.
2. Lightly flour the work surface and roll out the pastry to a circle a little larger than the top of the tin and approximately 5mm thick.
3. 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.
4. Preheat the oven to 190C.
5. Line the pastry case with greaseproof paper, add baking beans and bake blind for 15 minutes, before removing the greaseproof paper and baking beans.
6. Reduce the oven temperature to 160C.
7. Beat together the milk, cream, eggs and herbs. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Scatter half of the grated cheese in the blind-baked base, top with the chopped spinach, beans and herbs, then pour over the liquid mixture.
9. 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.
10. Sprinkle over the remaining cheese. Place into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until set and lightly golden.