Aunt Syl's Enchilada Sauce

When we were in college, Phil made this sauce several times. It was quite the production, involving all of us who lived at Our House. The recipe itself is simple and no trouble, but it does need to simmer for a long time, and as with most simmering of tomato sauces, the longer the better. However, Phil always arranged his classes and his days so that he would leave around 9am and not return until late in the afternoon. He always wanted to make sure the sauce would get stirred, so questioned everyone about our plans for the day and instructed us to stir the sauce. It got to the point where we would joke behind his back that the sauce had to be stirred every 37.5 minutes or it would be ruined.

There were times when we left our 50 year old house empty with the electric burner on low under the pot. Even with eight people living at the house, sometimes we would all have to be gone at one time, especially in the mornings. I like to think that at least in the morning the sauce would still be pretty watery from the tomato juice. I often came home midday, and after calling "hello" and not receiving a response, I would immediately dash to the kitchen and stir the pot.

It should be noted that we never, never burned the sauce.

Tea came over today to learn how to make Aunt Syl's Enchilada Sauce. She went to a tamalada a few weeks ago so I wonder if she was expecting a big production. The sauce went together in half an hour, and we sipped margaritas while it simmered. Even the enchilada caseroles themselves came together very quickly, though we made two batches - both with chicken and one with cheese as well.

I kept my talk about Phil to just a couple stories. He died almost fifteen (!!) years ago, well predating my friendship with Tea, and some stories are hard to tell because someone who didn't know Phil probably wouldn't understand why it is funny that I got the steel pedal guitar when he died, or that I have one of his major sculptures. I always think about Phil when I make this sauce, and about everyone else who loved Phil as I did, and I put all that love into the sauce too.

Phil's 21st birthday, September 1988

I gave the recipe to Tea, but while typing, I realized that really, I don't follow it at all. I'm not the most faithful to recipes, but I'm not just sleeping around on Aunt Syl's Enchilada Sauce, I'm shacked up with its brother. I'm feeling a little sad about giving the recipe to someone I think is a better cook than I am because I wasn't very happy with the sauce we made today, and I know that I have made it better in the past. Maybe today I didn't think about Phil and the Our House folks as much as I usually do.

In general I think sharing is good, and I believe that as long as Phil is remembered he is not totally gone, even if he is remembered by someone who never met him (I imagine Tea saying, "This recipe came from the friend of my friend..."). Share the love, and the enchilada sauce.