In hot water

Dinner tonight: chicken pot pie with friends. The chicken pot pie was cooked: the friends were barely pickled.... or more precisely, neither bare nor pickled.
I decided, since LOML's decision yesterday not to eat with the sprogs and me, that we needed to do something with all of the chicken we had left: and since we had extra cold chicken, a chicken pot pie seemed to be calling.
Especially since we had lots of carcasses to make stock from -- so this morning, into the pan went the bones, water, onions, celery, carrots, garlic, peppercorns (no salt: always salt stock after you know how much you are going to reduce it!) etc (in case I'm leaving anything out!)
The stock simmered for ages, then, after straining it, and reducing for an hour or so, to several cups of the stock I added a diced onion, some chopped celery, garlic, carrots. After simmering for about an hour or so to cook (especially the carrots) (and the onions) (and the garlic!) I added the chicken, and a little cream,
and now, some salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat the oven to 425.

Meanwhile, (just before adding the chicken) I had made some hot water crust pastry. This was something I have been wanting to try for ages: it can be made in the heat of summer -- indeed, it is better made then -- and you have to keep the dough warm instead of fighting to keep it cold.
Hot water crust pastry:
By weight, you'll need:
2+ parts flour (I used all purpose: this is supposed to be a sturdy pastry)
1 part water
1 part fat
1 small amount of salt
I used 24 oz of flour, 10 oz water, 5 oz each of lard and vegetable shortening
and about a teaspoon of salt (not enough salt, it turned out)
Bring the water and the fat to a boil on the stove: sift together the flour and salt: make a well, pour in the boiling mixture, and mix with a wooden spoon. No need for delicacy here. When it is a dough, immediately roll out into base and top, etc.
I made two 8 inch pies: and the amount of dough was just about perfect.

Line the pie plates with a piece of dough: fill the plates with chicken pot pie mix, top with dough, seal, slash the tops, brush with egg if you care. Stick it into the 425 F oven for about 20 minutes, turn down the heat to 350 and bake for another 20-30 minutes.

It was really good, except for being under salted: once we added salt, it was really very good.

As always, if you try it, and like it, please let me know!

Yours, in hot water,
N.