A recipe for homemade winter squash empanadas with sweet caramelized shallots, goat cheese, and fresh sage.
Towards the end of summer, the asters that have been growing taller and taller, higher than high as they reach for the sunshine dwarfing the other garden flowers in the process, bloom. What looked like spindly weeds the last three weeks are now adorned with daisy-like purple flowers, turning their golden centers to the sun. Their deep purple petals mirror the spring irises that sit green and spent in their shadow.
Almost as instantly as the opening of those first asters, the bees come buzzing. Soon the gardens that surround the house are swarming with their soft, fuzzy bodies, and my children, squeal as they slide past so as not to disturb them.
For a good two months those blooms held in the garden, giving life to an otherwise dying landscape as September turned to October and the nights began to frost. Now, as I clear garden space, pack it with leaves to insulate it from our Minnesota winter, I first take a few moments to start something new for next year. Bulbs are buried, and along with them, a few seed bombs that will explode next year into a garden of wildflowers for our friendly bees.
My herbs have come in from the gardens, the last of the squash has been harvested, the carrots pulled. In the kitchen, I’ve given in, albeit reluctantly, to fall-flavored foods. I finally finished putting up tomatoes, and I’ve moved to apples. Pies and crisps and cider are common these days. For dinner there are squash and root vegetables, and I’m turning the oven on with gusto, hoping it will keep the cold out a bit longer into the evening hours.
These empanadas pair sweet winter squash with caramelized shallots and fragrant sage and thyme (the kind that’s hanging to dry in my dining room at present). They’re helped a long a bit further by creamy goat cheese. This salty and sweet combination bursts from flaky pastry shells, the essence of fall wrapped in a tiny little package.
I used Cascadian Farm's Winter Squash for this recipe. You can find this in the freezer section of your supermarket, or you can substitute any winter squash puree, including pumpkin, in this recipe.
Winter Squash Empanadas with Caramelized Shallots and Goat Cheese: Bee Friendlier
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
This summer presented us with the opportunity to talk about good and bad yellow-and-black winged creatures, as wasps attached themselves first in our front yard and then under the flashing in the back. With the honeybees and bumble bees buzzing happily on the flowers and the wasps swarming up above (until we knocked down their nest and beat them senseless), the kids had an very personalized lesson in how to tell the difference and how we want one but not the other.
Pollinators are important for crop production, supporting and pollinating two-thirds of crops in the U.S. They are necessary for your chocolate fix, your morning cup of coffee, the cotton of your shirt, your afternoon almond snack, tomatoes on your salad, the pumpkins you carved for Halloween and the ones you roast for pie this month. Without an adequate population of pollinators, we can say goodbye to so many things that make up our life as we know it. Yet we spray our backyards to control for insects, we dump extra pesticides and insecticides on crops rather than practicing sustainable farming practices, and then when those pollinators threaten to disappear, reduce their numbers, fail to show up for the job we expect them to do, we fail to see the connection or care enough to act.
Learn more about colony collapse, pollinator problems, and how you can help by visiting Cascadian Farm’s Bee Friendlier site. Be informed, learn what you can do, and start making a difference.
Lene getting seed bombs ready and my mom doing manual labor in my garden.
This post is part of the Bee Friendlier campaign by Cascadian Farm. I’ve had a working relationship with CF since 2009. They are providing the giveaway and have sponsored this post, but all thoughts, opinions, recipes, and babbling are mine and mine alone.
These empanadas sound amazing with the squash and fresh sage. I love it when the honeybees are in our hay meadows and planting flowers for them is such a great idea.
So…yea. I definitely pinned this one for later. Holy yum these look good! I haven’t had an empanada in forever, but love them so much! I’m also a goat cheese addict, so I’ve been drooling since the top of the post.
I love Cascadian Farms and use their frozen products often. I did not however know they have winter squash! I’m not sure why I never thought of that in frozen form and am so glad you mentioned that. Hive collapse is a scary, scary thing and one I don’t feel people really understand. I love this campaign Shaina!
Lovely post and photos. Nice to see movements for saving out pollinators. Yay! The empanadas look fun, too.
Wow, these look great!
How delicious! Can’t wait to make these.
These are amazing — love everything you stuffed inside of them! Definitely putting these on my must-make asap list!
These look absolutely delicious! I am definitely going to be on the lookout for Cascadian Farm’s Winter Squash at my local market.
I had no idea Cascadian even made frozen winter squash!! Love that used them in empandas – hand held food is always the best, especially with kids.
I want one of these right now!!!
These are simply perfect, and I can smell the bundle of sage through my screen. So pretty.
These look so yummy – the kind of food that would last all of 10 minutes in this house 😉 Pinned to try soon!
These look scrummy! Making my mouth water.
Very tasty, thanks for the recipe. By the way, my family and I added more garlic with ginger for piquancy, and goat cheese can be replaced with mozzarella cheese and Gouda 50/50. It turned out just delicious.
Thanks for sharing this awesome information.
yummmmm. I love food.
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