Sweet and Sour Cherry Slab Pie

For Dough:

1. In a large bowl combine flour, almond meal, sugar, 1 tsp. kosher salt, and the anise seeds. Using a pastry blender, cut butter into flour until it resembles fine crumbs. Drizzle with the ice water and mix just until mixture comes together, adding an additional 1 Tbsp. ice water if needed.

2. Form one-fourth of the dough into a disk and wrap. Flatten and wrap remaining dough. Refrigerate both 1 hour.**

For Filling and Assembly:

1. In a large bowl toss cherries, reserved juice if using frozen, sugar, cornstarch, and crushed anise.

2. Preheat oven to 375°F. On a 15x10-inch piece of parchment paper roll large piece of dough into a 14x10-inch rectangle. Transfer dough with parchment into a 13x9-inch baking pan. Press dough firmly against bottom and sides. Spread evenly with filling.

3. On a lightly floured surface roll small piece of dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into strips. Place strips diagonally across filling, leaving some filling exposed. As necessary, fold dough edges down and gently press into strips.

4. In a small bowl whisk together egg with 1 tablespoon water. Brush pastry with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 70 minutes or until crust is dark golden brown and filling is bubbling. Let cool in pan on a wire rack. Use parchment to lift uncut pie from pan. Serves 24.

*Frozen Cherries

Thaw two 12-oz. pkg. frozen tart cherries and two 12-oz. pkg. dark sweet cherries overnight in the refrigerator. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup juice. Prepare as directed.

**

Dough can be made ahead and kept chilled up to 2 days or frozen up to 1 month. Thaw frozen dough in the refrigerator overnight.