Ingredients
170g frozen peas (I like petit pois) 
240ml cream 
3 eggs plus remaining egg white 
1 tsp salt 
A good grind of black pepper 
½ tsp sugar 
60g cheddar 
Bunch of asparagus, woody bottom removed 

Pastry Ingredients 
175g plain pastry 
100g cold butter, cut into dice 
1 egg yolk 
4 tbsp cold water * 
* You may not need all 4 tbsp 

Equipment 
23 x 2.5cm loose bottomed, fluted tin 
Baking beans or 150g rice 
Food processor or vegetable masher  

Method
This might look like a complex recipe but it is broken down into a few easy steps - making the pastry, lining the tin, making the filling and cooking - and it is very easily achievable. 

Take your peas out of the freezer and leave to one side. 

Start with the pastry.  Put the flour and butter into a large bowl and either by hand or in a processor combine until the mix looks like breadcrumbs.  Add the egg yolk (keep the egg white for the filling) and 2 tbsp of cold water and bring together.  You do this by grabbing a handful and pushing down and repeating until it comes together as a dough.  If your pastry is too crumbly to gather properly then add another tbsp of cold water.  You don’t want to add too much water or rolling out will require a lot of extra flour and it won’t be as buttery, this is why you add slowly.  Once it is a ball cover with clingfilm and put into the fridge for at least half an hour. 

After half an hour, lightly dust your surface and your rolling pin with flour and start to roll out. The best way to do this is to start slowly and keep rotating 45 degrees as this should help to keep it round. I also turn the pastry over after a couple of rotations, making sure I lightly dust the surface and the pastry and the rolling pin again. You want to roll out to the pastry to roughly the depth of a pound coin. 

Very lightly dust the top of the pastry and the rolling pin.  Take your rolling pin and very carefully wrap the pastry around the rolling pin so you can lift it to the edge of tin and then roll it over carefully.  Very gently push your pastry into the tin and, if you are using a fluted tin, push into the flutes.  Don’t trim the pastry yet.  Lightly prick the base all over with a fork and put back into the fridge for 10 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 180c and put a baking tray into the oven. 

After 10 minutes get a knife and gently run the knife over the top of your tin to trim the top of the pastry.  Pastry can have the nasty habit of shrinking when it cooks so to ensure it does not shrink too much,  very carefully go around the top and gently push the pastry so it stretches and it is a little above the edge of your tin.  Keep the leftover pastry in the cling film.  Scrunch up a sheet of baking paper and put on the pastry then top with the baking beans or rice.  Cook for 15 minutes until the pastry loses its ‘wet’ look and the top is starting to go golden.  

After 15 minutes remove the beans and baking paper and put back into the oven for another 10-12 minutes until golden all over.  If it is not golden just put back for another few mins until it is.  If the pastry is too light it won’t fully cook through so go for a slightly darker golden.  If you notice any holes in the pastry at this point then just patch up with your leftover pastry carefully by taking a small amount and squashing with your fingers to make it thinner and put over the hole. 

Meanwhile, prepare the filling.  

To remove the woody end from your asparagus, hold the asparagus firmly at the bottom and just below the tip and bend the asparagus until it snaps, it will snap at the perfect point, removing all the tough stalk.   

Ideally blitz the peas in a processor until relatively smooth but if you do not have a processor just use a fork or vegetable masher.  Add the cream, salt and pepper and mix until just combined.  Add the eggs and egg yolks and mix again until just combined. 

When the pastry is golden, put the pea mixture in to the pastry case and top with the grated cheese and put on to the baking tray and cook for 20-25 minutes. 

Meanwhile cook your asparagus, my favourite way is to do this in the microwave in a lidded microwave dish with and inch of water for 2 minutes but if you don’t have a microwave this can just be blanched in boiling water on the hob. 

At 15 minutes pile the asparagus on the top of the quiche and put it back into the oven to finish off.  It is cooked when the custard is set and the top starting to go golden. 

When you remove the quiche from the oven just give it 5-10 minutes to cool and set a little before taking it from the tin.