Ingredients

Pastry

• 200g flour, plus extra to dust
• 50g white vegetable fat, chilled and cubed
• 50g butter, chilled and cubed
• pinch salt

Filling

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 50g peas, defrosted
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 150ml double cream
• 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• 50g soft blue cheese, such as roquefort
• 100g fine asparagus spears or thicker ones halved lengthways, trimmed
• 40g gruyere, grated

To serve

• 2 cos or romaine lettuce, torn
• ½ cucumber, diced
• 2 stems of dill, torn
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Method

1. To make the pastry, sift the flour into a bowl, rub in the white fat and butter, stir in the salt and gradually add 1-2 tbsp cold water to bring the mixture into a dough (or you can put everything except the water into a food processor and pulse to blend, add the water and pulse to bring it together). Dust the work surface with flour and roll out the dough to fit a loose bottomed 35cm x 12cm rectangular tin – if you don’t have one you can use a 22cm round loose-bottomed tin. Press into the sides and trim the top. Prick the base with a fork and chill for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas mark 6. Line the pastry with parchment and baking beans and cook for 10-12 minutes until beginning to colour round the edges. Remove the parchment and beans and bake for a further 10-15 minutes until the base looks set and is just golden. Reduce the oven temperature to 190C/fan oven 170C/gas mark 5.
3. Whilst the pastry is cooking, heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and cook gently for 7-8 minutes until softened. Pile into the pastry case and scatter over the peas.
4. Beat the eggs together with the cream, add the thyme and plenty of freshly ground black pepper and a little salt. Pour into the pastry case. Scatter over the blue cheese, arrange the asparagus spears on top and then sprinkle over the Gruyere. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden and set.
5. Arrange the leaves and cucumber in a bowl, whisk together the olive oil and lemon juice and use to dress the leaves. Scatter with dill before serving with the quiche.

Wine pairing

The taste of summer in a pastry case! Serve this warm for dinner, or cool and pack to take on a picnic. A dry Riesling with refreshing acidity matches perfectly with quiche, as its fruitiness is a tangy contrast to the nuttiness of blue cheese.