Three Square

Sweet Potato and Apple Breakfast Hash

While we enjoy a good breakfast hash all year, our chosen ingredients change with the seasons. In winter we rely on root vegetables. During spring and summer we include as many fresh greens as possible. And as we move into fall we crave its heartier bounty, so we built this one-skillet breakfast on a foundation of sweet potatoes and Granny Smith apples.

While the sweet potato and apple play well together, the ingredient that makes it sing is bacon. We cook the bacon first, then remove it and sauté our sweet potatoes and apples in the drippings. The result is smoky bacon flavor infused in all the ingredients.

Once the sweet potatoes and apples are fully cooked, we add the chopped bacon back into the mix. Now we have the opportunity to steer the flavor profile of the dish. We can lean into the sweetness of the apples or draw out the savory flavor of the bacon. Decisions, decisions. For this recipe, we chose to accentuate the savory and let the sweetness harmonize. So we add a bit of dried thyme, salt, and pepper. A couple of eggs round out the meal.

Chicken Salad Wrap with Pecans and Cranberries

After months of long days, we can feel the light shift as the solstice draws nearer. The shorter days leave less time to ramble, so we like to prepare our lunches in the morning in order to minimize our midday refueling time.

This pack-ahead chicken salad wrap makes a quick and nourishing trail lunch. It combines chicken salad with diced celery, chopped pecans, and cranberries for a little bit of crunch, a little bit of chew, and a whole lot of flavor.

For this recipe, we poach a chicken breast in broth along with some herbs and spices. This gives the chicken a depth of flavor that carries into the final product. If you don’t have time to poach your own chicken, any precooked chicken from the store will work as well. Or if you prefer a vegetarian or vegan lunch, you can substitute chickpeas for the chicken and veganaise for traditional mayo.

We wrap ours in tomato-basil wheat tortillas, but you can use whichever style wrap you prefer. While we don’t have anything but anecdotal evidence to support this, we find that tortillas labeled as “wraps” are more flexible and less bready than standard burrito-style tortillas. Again, choose whichever you prefer.

Dutch Oven Chicken Marbella

Sweet, savory, crispy, and saucy, this Dutch oven recipe for chicken marbella delivers a gourmet campfire experience with a bare minimum of work. The modern classic first appeared in the Silver Palate cookbook in 1983 and uses chopped prunes and olives to produce a combination that’s absolutely irresistible. However, every version of this recipe calls for a piece of equipment unavailable to campers: an oven. So after a bit of tinkering, we came up with a way to make it in a Dutch oven.

This meal is extraordinarily easy to prepare—the only secret ingredient is foresight. Just combine the ingredients in a reusable container or large freezer bag at home and then toss it in your cooler. This lets the flavors marinate and build while reducing the number of ingredients you have to pack.

Crispy skin is part of the original recipe’s signature appeal, but a Dutch oven doesn’t create the kind of skin-crisping dry heat that a home range does. So instead, we start by browning the skin in a little oil. Then we add the marinade to the Dutch oven, cover and pile on the coals, and cook to perfection.

The end result is a crispy chicken dish with a super-flavorful sauce that takes less than 45 minutes to cook. Serve with couscous for a memorable campfire meal perfectly suited to those cool fall evenings.