Cherry Pie

When you have a glut of fruit, you can make jam, or pies. Or in this case, both. This cherry pie features a beautiful woven lattice top.

Fill your pie dish with enough cherries to make a single layer. Now remove any stalks and stems from the cherries, give them a good rinse, and remove their pits.

Grease your pie dish with butter, and roll out a sheet of shortcrust pastry about 4mm (quarter of an inch) thick. Line the dish with the pastry, and trim off any excess.

Spread a thick layer of cherry jam in the bottom of the pie, and then place the pitted whole cherries on top.

Moisten the rim of the pastry with cold water. Roll out a sheet of pastry that is a bit longer than the diameter of your dish, and a little over half as wide. Cut this pastry into strips. Place pastry strips side by side, with about 1cm (half an inch) space between them. Press the top ends down onto the rim so they stick, but leave the ends nearest you loose.

Now to start weaving the lid, lift up alternating pastry strips and carefully fold them out of the way. Place a strip of pastry over the remaining strands, at 90 degrees to them. You can press down both ends of this strip and cut off any excess. Fold the strips that you moved out of the way back into place. Lift up the strips that weren't lifted up before, and place another pastry strip 1cm away from the first one. If none of this makes any sense to you, watch the video - link below. Keep on weaving until the top is complete. Trim off any excess pastry and tidy up the rim with your fingers.

Put the pie in the fridge to rest for 15 minutes. Preheat your oven to 230°C (446°F).

Brush the top of the pie with beaten egg, and bake the pie for 35-40 minutes.

You'll need to let the pie cool down somewhat before you can remove it from the tin.

Serve with Chantilly Cream.