Three Square
Warming winter meals to fuel your cold-weather adventures
Savory Breakfast Scones
Daylight is precious this time of year, meaning breakfast can be a grab-and-go affair. And while sweet scones make a nice addition to an afternoon break, winter mornings call for more caloric heft. With these, we incorporated grated cheddar cheese, sliced ham, chives, and sun-dried tomatoes to transform ordinary scones into proper fuel for your winter adventures. Making scones is straightforward, but the key to flaky perfection is properly “cutting in” the butter and working it into the dough. A great hack for this is to freeze your butter and then use a box grater to shave pieces of the perfect size and consistency for foolproof folding. Once the dough is prepared, it can be refrigerated or frozen, so you can bake the scones whenever you want.
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons butter
- 2 eggs
- ⅓ cup whole milk
- ¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ cup ham, chopped small
- ⅓ cup chopped chives
- ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
- Preheat oven to 375ºF.
- Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Using a partially frozen stick of butter and the big holes in your box grater, coarsely shred the butter into the dry ingredients. Add the grated cheese, ham, chives, and sun-dried tomatoes. Toss to combine.
- Crack one of the eggs into a small bowl and whisk to blend, then add it to the bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Slowly add the milk while mixing with a fork or fingers. Once the flour comes together in a shaggy ball—it should hold together if squeezed in your hand but not be overly moist—cover the dough in the bowl and refrigerate for a minimum of 20 minutes.
- Remove the bowl from the refrigerator and transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Form into a flat disc approximately 2 inches thick, cut into quarters, and stack the quarters on top of one another. Press down to smush them all back together again. Repeat this process 3 to 4 times. This will create laminated layers of butter throughout the dough, resulting in flaky scones.
- Cut the dough into 8 wedges. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Whisk the second egg in a bowl and brush onto each scone.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until the scones are golden brown.
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
The happy convergence of squash season and soup weather inspired us to develop this chipotle-spiced butternut squash bisque, which will warm you from the inside out. We started with oven-roasted squash, caramelized onions, and garlic, puréed with broth, spices, and apple cider vinegar. The smoky flavor of the roasted squash pairs with the slow-building bite of chipotle to produce the rich and flavorful soup we crave on a cold winter’s day. While this soup takes time to prepare from scratch, it can be stored in the refrigerator or freezer and quickly revived whenever you need a hearty meal. Enjoy at home or pour into an insulated container and bring wherever your winter adventures take you.
- 1 medium butternut squash (about 2 ½ pounds)
- 1 onion, sliced thin
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 quart broth
- 2 teaspoons sea salt, divided
- ½ teaspoon dried chipotle powder*
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup cream
- Heat oven to 400ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- Cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise and remove the pulp and seeds. Rub the cut edges with olive oil and place the halves on the baking sheet, cut-side down. Roast for about 45 minutes, until the flesh is easily pierced with a fork.
- While the squash is roasting, heat the olive oil in a medium heavy-bottomed pot over low heat. Add the onions and ½ teaspoon salt and sauté until the onions are very soft and golden in color, about 20 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant and soft, about 3 minutes. Add the remaining salt, chipotle powder, ground coriander, and cumin and stir until fragrant. Remove from the heat while the squash finishes in the oven.
- Scoop the butternut squash out of the skin and transfer to a blender. Add the sautéed onions, broth, and apple cider vinegar. Depending on the size of your blender, you might need to do this in batches. Blend until smooth, then transfer back to the pot. Bring the soup back to a simmer and stir in the cream just before serving.
Cast-Iron Skillet Cottage Pie
If you’re in need of a meal to take the chill out of your bones this winter, look no further than our take on a traditional cottage pie. Browning savory vegetables with ground beef or Impossible Burger primes your skillet with layers of flavor. Next, you add liquids to lift those flavors into a rich gravy. Finally, a layer of mashed potatoes provides rib-sticking heft and crisp oven-browned edges. This symphony of flavors begins with a lengthy list of ingredients, but the preparation is foolproof and the results are well worth the effort. And the leftovers, if you have any, taste even better the next day.
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 8 ounces mushrooms, quartered
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 large carrot, chopped
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 8 to 10 ounces ground beef or plant-based substitute such as Impossible Burger
- ⅓ cup peas
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups broth
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- Mashed Potato Topping
- 2 ½ pounds Yukon gold potatoes
- 4 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup cream
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
- Peel and quarter the potatoes. Add them to a pot and fill with water to cover, bring to a boil and cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender enough to be pierced easily with a fork. Drain, then return to the pot and add the butter, cream, and ½ teaspoon salt. Mash until smooth.
- While the potatoes are cooking, prep the filling. Heat the oil in your cast-iron skillet over medium flame, then add the mushrooms and sauté until browned, about 5 minutes. Add the onions, carrots, celery, and salt, and sauté about 10 minutes more, until softened. Add the Impossible Burger or ground beef and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Add the peas.
- Sprinkle the flour over the top of the filling and stir to coat. Then add the broth, Worcestershire sauce, fresh thyme, and bay leaf. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes until the gravy thickens. Remove from the heat.
- Now turn your attention back to the potatoes. Once they’re mashed, spread them evenly over the filling in the cast-iron skillet. Top with the grated Parmesan. Transfer to the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until the potatoes begin to take on some color.
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