Creamy Cashew Enchilada Sauce

Red or green? Choose your color for this creamy yet zesty enchilada sauce! For red: use a mix of sweet and spicy red (or orange or yellow) peppers and ripe, red tomatoes … or for a green sauce, use green peppers, jalapenos and green tomatoes or tomatillos. Either way, the result is delightful, creamy, yet full of good peppery flavor. Adjust the heat up or down to suit your own tastes.

Inspired by my cashew salsa

What do you do when your garden gives you loads of peppers? Once you’ve made pepper steak and stuffed peppers, salsa and frozen all the peppers you can handle, well, then, in my opinion it’s time for enchilada sauce. This idea came upon me after the night I cleared out the garden goodies from my little garden. It was the first night in a series of hard frosts and I knew it was time to say goodbye to my garden and go harvest everything NOW. So although it was a chilly evening, as soon as I was done with work, I went and picked all the peppers and tomatoes, whether they were green, yellow, or red. The last of the eggplant got snipped and I pulled the plants out of the garden. I found a zucchini hiding amongst the vines and had to pick the last two babies that I’d hoped would have time to get bigger. No time left yet for growing, little zucchini. It’s winter now.

I sorted the peppers into piles of red/yellow/orange on one side and green on the other. Mostly I had green peppers and green tomatoes, but I couldn’t resist making a red version of my sauce as well. I added some smoked paprika and chili powder to the red sauce to give it extra color and flavor since some of my peppers were light yellow or orange instead of the red I really wanted. For the green sauce, I let the peppers and tomatoes stand on their own. I even used un-ripe green tomatoes in some of my sauce excursions, so if you’re looking for a good use for your end-of-the season tomatoes, this sauce is stellar!

The first thing I made with my yummy sauce was zucchini-ladas. I hollowed out a couple zucchini boats, then made a filling including a mixture of cooked leftover turkey meat, quinoa, and lentil taco filling, along with some sauteed onions, garlic and zucchini (part of the good stuff I hollowed out) and some of this yummy sauce. I piled the filling into the boats, topped with sauce and cheese and baked. SO yummy! I had some leftover filling, so I just baked that in a little dish with extra sauce and cheese on top. I think I loved that saucy little bake even a little more, if that’s possible. I’ve got a pile of corn tortillas waiting to make me a batch of good enchiladas too … I love enchiladas so much.

Can you can this enchilada sauce?

I am not entirely sure, honestly, but I feel that you can do this with a PRESSURE canner. I would NOT recommend a water bath type canner for this recipe.

I decided to pressure can my enchilada sauce. I had loads of peppers and tomatoes, so I made double batches of both colors of enchilada sauce and cooked them to boiling in two pots on the stove. I then scooped the hot sauce into sterile, hot jars and pressure canned as much of the sauce as I could fit into my remaining pint jars. Some recipes say to pressure cook them at 10 or 11 PSI for 20 minutes and I found another enchilada sauce recipe that says to pressure cook for 50 minutes. I couldn’t find any guidance on the use of nuts in pressure canned sauces, but I figure if you can pressure can meat, surely you can do the same with sauces that include nuts!

If you plan to go this route, I would err on the side of caution and process for 50 or even 60 minutes. I also definitely recommend a HOT pack. For a hot pack, bring the sauce to a boil then, using a jar funnel, ladle the hot sauce into hot sterile jars, carefully lift the jar funnel, then meticulously wipe the rims clean with a clean, sterile cloth before adding the sterile lids and tightening on the rings and placing in your pressure canner. I’ve had the best luck with things sealing when I use a hot pack and I’m a little over anal about wiping everything really clean before putting the lid on. Some say that’s not necessary to do a hot pack when you’re pressure canning because things literally get cooked IN the jars, but I’ve had bad luck with things not sealing (and most of the good liquid seeping out) when I do it that way, so I always start with a “hot pack”.

Can you freeze this enchilada sauce?

Yes! Another (probably easier and definitely safe) preservation option is to freeze the sauce … or, better yet, make up your enchiladas with your choice of filling, then cook some for dinner and freeze the rest for future meals.

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Do you see those tiny little white specks of cashew in the sauce? Those little beauties are what sends the signal to your tongue that this is a CREAMY sauce, while all the rest of the flavors present themselves along side, complementing the flavor with sweet, tangy, zesty, wonderful goodness. It’s a multi-dimensional sauce that will send your taste buds to their happy zone.