Le Creuset: Cherry Lattice Pie Recipe
Serves: 6-8
Preparation time: 2 hours
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
For the sweet pastry:
250g cake flour, sifted
100g icing sugar
1 pinch of fine salt
200g salted butter, diced and softened
2 free-range egg yolks
For the pie:
1kg frozen cherries
100g brown sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 egg and a splash of milk for the egg wash
Crème fraîche or vanilla bean ice cream, to serve
Method
To make the sweet pastry:
Sift the flour, icing sugar and salt into a large bowl. Using your fingertips, work the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles medium-sized breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolks and bring the pastry together. It’s important not to overwork the pastry at this point. Wrap the pastry with cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
To make the pie:
Once the pastry is chilled, roll it out between two sheets of baking paper to approximately 5mm thickness. Chill for 20 minutes. Now cut the strips for the top of the pie. You will need ten 2cm x 28cm strips for the latticework. Once cut, place back into the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes. It is important to chill your pastry in-between steps for ease when handling it and for best results when baked.
Place the cherries in the Le Creuset 26cm Signature Cast Iron Frypan along with the sugar, vanilla and lemon and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the cherries are soft. Remove the cherries from the cooking liquid and reduce the liquid until slightly syrupy. Place the cherries back in the liquid and turn off the heat. Refrigerate the skillet until cold. This is important for when the pastry is added to the top of the pie as the pastry will melt if the skillet is still warm.
Once the cherries and skillet are chilled, lattice the chilled pastry over the cherries. Brush with the egg wash and sprinkle with brown sugar. Chill the pie again for 15 minutes.
Bake at 180°C for 20-30 minutes until the pastry is golden and the cherries are bubbling. Serve warm with whipped crème fraîche or vanilla bean ice cream.