ASPARAGUS QUICHE

You can buy frozen asparagus or imported fresh asparagus in the
supermarket all year round, but fresh is infinitely nicer, I think,
especially home-grown asparagus, which is in season from early
June until the end of July.
You only want the pretty part of the asparagus for this recipe
so use the stalks to make stock or a sauce for a fish dish (see
Chapter 3, under ‘Leftovers’).
Lots of cheeses make good quiches – Cheddar, Caerphilly, Red
Leicester, Gruyère – but in this recipe I’d use Cheshire for its lovely
mild flavour, or maybe a mixture of Cheshire and one of the
others.
The quantities below are enough to fill an 8 in (20 cm)
sandwich tin or flan dish.
6 oz (150 g) plain flour
3 oz (75 g) butter or margarine (or 11⁄2 oz/40 g each of butter and
lard)
Approximately 4 tbsp cold water
1 bundle of fresh asparagus
1⁄2 small bundle of spring onions
3 large eggs (or 3 medium eggs + 1 egg yolk)
1⁄2 pint (250 ml) single cream
A splash of milk
4 oz (100 g) grated cheese
Salt & pepper
Method
1. Sift the flour into a very large mixing bowl and rub in the fat
in small pieces until the mixture resembles medium-fine
breadcrumbs.
2. Make a well in the centre then add the cold water and mix it
all together, either with your hands or an ordinary knife or a
tablespoon, to make a firm, smooth dough.
3. Ideally, wrap the dough in foil or cling film and chill in the
fridge for half an hour before turning the dough onto a floured
surface and rolling it out to fit the lightly greased tin or flan
dish. (If you’re short of time you can roll the pastry out straight
away; chilling just makes it a bit easier to handle.)
4. Prick the pastry with a fork several times and bake it ‘blind’
(so the filling can be added when the pastry is cold) by covering
the bottom of the flan with a circle of greaseproof paper then
weighing the paper down with a handful of dried beans, lentils
or rice.
5. Bake in the oven at Gas Mark 4 (180ºC) for 10–15 minutes
until the pastry is just golden then remove the dried beans and
greaseproof paper.
6. Prepare the asparagus by trimming the tips to about 21⁄2 in (5
cm) and putting them in a pan of boiling water (turn the heat
off under the pan first) for about 5 minutes before draining.
7. Prepare the spring onions by topping and tailing then cutting
them in half, then lengthways into strips so they’re roughly the
same size as the pieces of asparagus.
8. Beat the eggs, cream, milk and grated cheese together, season
with salt and pepper then pour the mixture into the pastry
case.
9. Add the asparagus and spring onions to the flan and bake on
Gas Mark 4 (180ºC) for 30–40 minutes until the pastry is
golden brown and the filling is obviously set.
10. Allow the cooked quiche to cool for about half an hour then
refrigerate, or serve warm.