I love me an enchilada. Last week I had a craving that would just not quit. We seem to be short on Mexican restaurants here in Vancouver so I was forced to wade out into the enchilada-making frontier.

I decided to make them vegan because generally I find cheese easier to digest if I just eat it with a glass of wine rather than in a complicated dish. Having said that, I had some leftover sauce and tortillas and I made a pan with chicken and chèvre inside and chèvre on top. The chèvre sort of collapsed into the sauce. Not to put too 2004 a point on it but they were OFF. THE. HOOK. I might consider making miniature ones for a party sometime.

Anyway, the smoky cashew ones were delicious also. The main thing I learned about enchiladas, though is that I don’t need to eat them for three days in a row.  The tortillas are of course corn and since I served the enchiladas with a corn salsa I really felt like I had ODd on corn. Though corn isn’t normally a particular trigger for me, it is a common allergen and it just made me feel sort of puffy and sleepy after I had eaten them for more than one meal. So, in short, I will make this recipe again but only when I’m feeding a crowd because I don’t think I need to eat that much corn at more than one meal. I’m going to ixnay the orncay for a good while.

The sauce I used was adapted from this Martha Stewart recipe. I always turn to Martha if I need a recipe for something I’ve never made before. Say what you will about her, she’s never wasted my time or my money: her recipes always work.

So the sauce was good. Is it the last enchilada sauce recipe I will ever need? Likely not.  I think it’s one of those things that could be really, really amazing if you developed the right version. If anyone has a good enchilada sauce recipe they want to share I would LOVE to see it.  I made Martha’s vegetarian by using chicken stock and a substituted white Hungarian peppers and a red pepper for the poblano, seems we’re pretty short on Mexican produce up here as well. Hope you have a wonderful week. If you like this post, by all means, please pass it along! xo Jasmine

Smoky Cashew Enchiladas
Makes 8 Enchiladas

Ingredients
1 recipe enchilada sauce, cooled
8 corn tortillas
1 avocado, sliced and tossed in lime or lemon juice

1/2 cup fresh raw corn kernels(optional)
8 black olives, pitted and chopped(optional)
1 tsp fresh oregano(optional)

2 cups raw, unsalted cashews, soaked at least 2 hours and rinsed well
1 teaspoon hot smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
Juice of one lemon
1 tbsp cider vinegar
2 tbsp filtered water

Directions
To make cashew filling:
In a food processor or blender combine cashews, paprika, salt, lemon juice, cider vinegar and filtered water. Blend until very smooth. 

To assemble enchiladas:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix, corn, olives and fresh oregano together.  Get a medium-sized lasagne pan ready. Dip a tortilla on the sauce, place 3-4 tablespoons of cashew filling on top, roll up and place in the pan. Repeat until the filling is gone. Pour sauce over the finished enchiladas until they are almost covered. Freeze or re-purpose the remaining sauce.  Cover the enchilada pan and bake until sauce bubbles, about half an hour.  Top with sliced avocado and corn and olive mixture if you choose. Serve warm with a green salad.