Combine the cherries, sugar, almond extract and salt in a large bowl, give it all a good stir and then allow the cherries to sit and macerate for 15 minutes to 3 hours, stirring occasionally.  If the fruit is very juicy (which mine was), place a sieve over a well sprayed, 4 cup (or larger) glass Pyrex measuring cup, and drain the cherry juices into it.  Put the cherries back into the bowl and toss them with the cornstarch.

Add the butter to the cherry juice, make a note of the how much there is, and then put it into the microwave for a couple of minutes at a time to boil until the juices reduce to about half – this usually takes 6 to 8 minutes.

As the juices are being reduced, roll out your pastry as you would and fit it into the pie plate with a bit extra hanging over the edges.  Spread the cherries evenly across the bottom, the scrape the now thickened cherry juices evenly over top.  Cover with the second sheet of pastry, dampen, trim and flute the edges and then cut a couple of air vents into the top.

You can then brush on some cream and sprinkle a bit of sugar over top, or make a glaze of 1 egg yolk and a touch of cream and brush that over the lattice and border.  Bake at 450 for 10 minutes, then cover the edges with foil, or an ‘edge protector’, and turn the heat down to 350 and bake for about another 35 minutes – you want the base crust brown (which you can see using a Pyrex pie plate).  Like all pies, this one cuts the best slices if allowed to cool to room temperature.