This Is Not Enchilada Sauce

Sometimes you run into a recipe that has rave reviews spilling off its coattails and it turns out to be awful or there's something fundamentally wrong with it that causes it to not turn out right. That's what happened when I ran across this enchilada sauce recipe on Allrecipes.Com, which looked pretty good to me on casual inspection, though I did wonder about the thickness of it since I saw neither hide nor hair of any flour or cream. My misgivings turned out to be well-founded, proving yet again that a culinary mad scientist should pay heed to instinct and at least do some research and compare different recipes. Here it is, with my on-the-fly modifications:

Today's Specimen

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp. olive oil


• 3 cloves garlic, finely diced


• 1 tbsp. onion, finely diced


• ½ tsp. dried oregano


• 1 tbsp. chili powder


• ½ tsp. dried basil


• ¼ tsp. ground cumin


• 1 tsp. dried parsley


• 1 pinch ground black pepper


• 1 pinch dried cayenne powder


• 1 pinch salt


• 6 oz. tomato puree


• 1½ cups water

Directions

1. Saute the garlic and onion in the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat until the onion turns soft and translucent and before the garlic starts to brown.


2. Add all the other ingredients and stir until the mixture is evenly distributed. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and allow the sauce to simmer uncovered for thirty minutes, stirring occasionally.

Next Time in the Lab

The flavor turned out to be pretty close to what I was looking for, though it was a little overwhelmingly pungent. The only major drawback to it was watery it was, even after I tried to reduce it down. Also, it looked a bit funny, with all the leafy particles floating around in it. This sauce definitely calls for a thickening agent, some sweetener, and the application of some vigorous whisking or a food processor.

• Substitute eight ounces of tomato sauce for the six ounces of puree


• Reduce the chili powder down to 2 teaspoons and omit the cumin


• Add a teaspoon of cocoa powder and a pinch of nutmeg


• I'll probably omit the parsley, too, since that seems a bit like overkill


• Maybe toss in a teaspoon of paprika for coloring


• Slowly whisk in ground flour while the sauce simmers until it attains the desired thickness


• Beat the sauce to hell with a whisk or a food processor so as to remove the unsightly chunks of oregano and basil