Peach and Blueberry Buckle

We are coming to those last precious days of summer. August is winding down and fall is right around the corner. As a kid, I always loved this time of year. As we have previously discussed, I’m a bit of a nerd. By the last week of August I was ready to go back to school. I loved getting my school supply shopping list in the mail. I would beg and plead my mom to go to the store and pick everything up right now!

We would go to Vix (in the days before Target in western New York) and I would look thru the aisles at all the new school supplies. Even though I already had two sets of colored pencils, they simply would not do. It was a new year, I needed new pencils! Same goes for folders and pens, binders and erasers. A new year meant a new beginning.

I was always a fairly simple shopper though. I was never one to get bright cartooned folders or Trapper Keepers (c’mon, you remember). I wanted plain colored binders and a matching folder to go along with it. I had that kind of OCD. The organizational OCD. I would write my name on all my new supplies and lay them out, ready for school to start.

In these last few days of August, there is something else to revel in. Stone fruits are at their best right now. I’m talking peaches, nectarines, plums. Those fruits that, when eaten by hand, make an enormous mess of everything in a five foot radius. I find myself in the grocery store or at the farmers market, fondling and smelling the peaches. Keep your peaches away from me, I just might accost them.

When I find some good ones I have a hard time deciding what to do with them. Do I eat them fresh? Do I slice them up and put them over breakfast? How about simmered on the stovetop with cinnamon and nutmeg and eaten warm with ice cream? No, today we make a buckle. There are so many different types of fruit cobbles that I have a slim understanding of how they differ from each other. I think it easiest to define each, as I make them. So for today…

Fruit Buckle – A single layer of cake, generally with berries added to the batter, topped with streusel. Also known as a crumble.

Now that you know what you are baking, head out to the store (or the farmers market) and get yourself some peaches. And some blueberries. There, now we’re ready to bake.

Soy Lemon Broccoli

There are quite a few things that my father and I have in common. We have the same brown eyes (although I often long for my mother’s green eyes), we are both huge nerds (c’mon, PhD chemist here and chemical engineer there, there’s no denying it) and we both excel at calculus. Maybe that last one falls in with the second one… There is one thing that we share that no one else in my family does, a love of broccoli. My mother and brother won’t go near the stuff.

Broccoli (aka little trees) has long been a dinnertime staple in the Wilde kitchen. It just was never made in very large bunches. Growing up, we would get the packages of frozen broccoli from the giant and boil it up for dinner. The little trees would be passed around the table, mostly missing one half of the table. Mom, being a grown-up, was allowed to pass. Brother, being only a year older than me, was forced to put a few trees on his plate (where they would be pushed around for a while before being tossed in the garbage). My Dad and I would generously pile those little trees on our plates.

Personally, I was a big fan of the “leafy” part. I thought they had more flavor and were also way more interesting. The trunk of the tree was less appetizing, but I ate it nonetheless. Broccoli would make the rounds in the vegetable cycle. Corn, peas, green beans, broccoli, anything that the giant had frozen and sent to Wegmans, they all made their appearance in the vegetable cycle. Broccoli was a favorite in the line-up, I could have done without the frozen peas, they were gross.

It wasn’t until years later, living on my own, that I discovered the virtues of fresh broccoli. Buying a crown of broccoli and cooking it up yielded a far more flavorful result than frozen broccoli. Adding things to the broccoli, rather than just eating it plain? Genius.

This dish takes a whole of ten minutes to prepare. Make it when you have no idea what else to put on your plate; you will be very happy with yourself. It is the perfect combination of salty soy sauce and bright lemon. Try not to pair it with an overwhelming main course. Something simple like a roasted chicken or a plain steak would do the trick.

Soy Lemon Broccoli

2 cups broccoli florets

1 tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp soy sauce



1. Heat olive oil in sauté pan to medium heat

2. Add garlic and cook for 2 minutes

3. Add broccoli and 3 tbsp water. Cover and allow to cook for 5 minutes

4. Add lemon juice and soy sauce and cook uncovered for another 2-3 minutes.

5. If you find that you added too much water, but your broccoli is done, remove the broccoli and allow sauce to reduce and thicken, then pour over broccoli.

Chicken Piccata

Nothing says summer to me more than lemonade. If you were to offer me a glass of lemonade in the winter I would scoff at you. Lemonade? In the winter? Why would I possibly want that? Winter is a time for hot drinks and stews, although I could go for a Starbucks apple cider anytime of the year (the baristas think I’m weird for wanting hot apple cider in July). Summertime is time to drink lemonade and limeade. All those tart fruits speak summer to me, although I’m not quite sure why.


Lemonade is one of the least thirst-quenching drinks around. This is not the beverage you should reach for after a long run or while moving your friends couch up three flights of stairs. You should also not have it with salt and vinegar potato chips while sitting in the sun, then go to the gym and teach a class, bad idea.

It is a drink that you must enjoy while doing absolutely nothing. Sitting by a pool and enjoying lemonade is even better. This way, you can have a sip of lemonade, and then jump in the pool to refresh yourself. Summers of my childhood were filled with tall glasses of lemonade, condensation pooling around the base of the glass, letting you know that it was cool and delicious.

Now, in the last hot days of the summer, I find myself wanting citrus. Drinking pitchers of lemonade aside, there are other options for enjoying a refreshing meal. Namely, Chicken Piccata. This dish is lemony and buttery. It can be salty too, if you remember to add the capers, which I did not… The first time I made this dish I fell in love. It’s unbelievably simple to put together (it takes about 15-20 minutes to complete) and is best served simple, alongside a fresh salad.

Enjoy the last warm breaths of summer. Go to the store and get yourself some lemons, get yourself a whole bag. Then make some lemonade, and chicken piccata. Just don’t have them together, or you’ll be drinking glasses and glasses of water for the remainder of the day.

Chicken Piccata

Adapted from: Everyday Italian by Giada DiLaurentis

1 lb chicken breast – either butterflied, or pounded to ½ inch thickness

½ tsp kosher salt

½ tsp black pepper

All-purpose flour

4 tbsp butter

2 tbsp olive oil

½ cup chicken broth

1/3 cup lemon juice

¼ cup capers



1. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper

2. Dredge chicken in flour, shake off excess

3. In sauté pan, melt 2 tbsp butter with olive oil over medium-high heat

4. Add chicken and cook just until browned, about 3 minutes per side

5. Add broth and lemon juice and bring to a boil

6. Return chicken to the pan and cook for another 5 minutes, until completely cooked

7. Transfer chicken to a platter and add remaining butter to sauté pan (add capers, if you remembered to buy them)

8. Pour sauce over the chicken and enjoy!