Black Currant and Apple Sauce

I'm busy multi-tasking this afternoon. Doing a bit of googling (purely for research purposes of course), writing my blog, making sauce for tea tonight and finishing my latest Noodle Knit doggy jersey.  I'm also drinking a cup of coffee and watching the chooks out the window, but those last two activities don't count. My To Do list also includes a heap of other things, but I have my limits.

Top priority is getting the sauce finished.  It's been quite a process to get to the stage where the fruit is now simmering down to a pulp.  First I had to find the barbecue tongs to pick the last of our apples out of the top of the tree. Picking was trickier than it sounds, since any apples I dropped were quickly attacked by the feathered army waiting below.  Then I sorted the apples into the lovely ones for The Boss and I, and the not so lovely for the piggles.

Next I peeled and quartered the apples I'm using for the sauce and put them in a small pot with a splash of water.  Finally I gathered up the apple peels and cores and snuck them out the front door to give to the wee chicks who were having a dust bath out by Noodle.  The chicks are growing rapidly, but they don't always get a fair go at food treats when the full size chooks are around. Today they got all the apple scraps to themselves.

Then it was into the depths of the freezer for black currants that the Ni-Vans and I had picked back at the start of the year.  I only needed a couple of good handfuls, but the bag I grabbed was full of stems, under-ripe berries and the occassional leaf.  I don't think I picked these ones. On the upside, the chicks ended up with some berries and bits to go with their apples.

Once the apples and currants were nicely simmering away, I added a couple of good dollops of the spicy plum paste I made a while ago.  I say dollops as this paste is one of my many cooking disasters - it's richly concentrated and delicious, but as sticky as half set wallpaper paste.  Once everything is combined properly I'll add some lemon juice, salt, pepper and sugar to hopefully create a really tasty sauce.

Now the house is starting to smell absolutely divine - this would be a great time for unexpected visitors. How could you notice that I haven't vacuumed or folded the washing when the sofa holds evidence of an almost finished girly pink dog coat, and the air is rich with smells that make your mouth water.   It's all about getting your priorities right.

What I've learnt today:
1.This morning I briefly held the nose rings and applicator that are intended as a surprise for the piggles. I discovered I am too much of a softy to even think about helping out with the nose ringing job.
2. A new egg record for the month - five eggs today.  My theory is that this remarkable result has been brought about by a combination of the night light in the chook house, and the girls having five less roosters chase them around.
3. Speaking of roosters, here's my latest rooster recipe: Flatten four half rooster breasts by beating with a wine bottle (full if possible but empty worked fine), then marinate for a few hours in a combination of yoghurt, ground cumin, white pepper & lemon juice.  Crumb as you would when making schnitzel, then cook over a moderate heat in a little oil in a non-stick pan. Amazingly juicy and very tasty - this is what we had for tea on Monday night.