If there is one thing I won’t miss about this summer, it’s the wasps. For some reason, we have had a steady stream of the little black and yellow jacket wearers coming into the house. We can’t find the nest, and as much as we don’t want this heat to end, I can’t wait for the cool October month to finally put them to sleep.

Tonight I tackled pastry. It’s one of those things that some people make look so easy, yet for me, something nearly always goes wrong. Generally, I don’t make enough, or I forget to chill it, it shrinks, it breaks, it burns. But, in the spirit of 2013, I’m trying to improve on the areas which need improving. So I made a quiche. My own recipe, and apart from the homemade pastry nothing was weighed or measured. Here is my

Chorizo and Pea Quiche

First the pastry, 125g Plain Flour, 55g of butter, iced water to bind

Weight the flour, cube the butter, and rub in using your fingertips to create breadcrumbs, then add icy water a little at a time to bring together. I then wrapped the pastry, flattened it into a disc shape (I never understand why I used to make it into a neat little ball which then took longer to roll out!!!!!!) placed it and my quiche tin into the freezer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile. Peel and chop some onions and add to a frying pan with a knob of butter and some olive oil, slow fry on a low low heat, then add some Chorizo. Keep the pan on a real low heat while you take the pastry out of the freezer, roll out and arrange in the quiche tin. Put the pastry and tin back in the freezer for 10 minutes, then blind bake for 15 on gas 6. I use a layer of tin foil, a layer of cling film and then all the pennies from my penny jar. They are so heavy, they stop the pastry from rising brilliantly. But . . . . . . Do remember, pennies stay hot for a long time after.

After 15 minutes, remove the baking beans/pennies and put back in for 5.

Add frozen peas to your Chorizo & Onions beat some eggs ( I used 6 ) with a little single cream, add your Chorizo mix to the eggs with a touch of grated Cheese, mix together and pour gently into your pastry case.

Cook in your preheated gas mark 6 oven, for 20 minutes until golden and the egg is set. As per normal, my pastry was too thin and egg had leaked underneath, but it was still pretty tasty.

I served this with salad, new potatoes and corn on the cob. A great last summer meal.