Pluot 'jam' can make a sweet and savory sauce

A few weeks ago I came home from the market overloaded with fruit and great ambitions for creating jars and jars of preserves. Part of my goal was to practice my skills for a canning class I had organized with Amy Shelf, co-owner of Succulence: Life and Garden, a store in San Francisco's Bernal Heights that sells canning equipment and Amy's handcrafted jams.

I had already loaded up on cherries, nectarines, boysenberries and strawberries that I couldn't resist at San Francisco's Alemany Farmers' Market when I noticed one last stone fruit stand. When I asked if they had any fruit for canning, they handed me a flat heavy with overripe apricots, peaches and pluots for $5. It was a great deal, even though greener fruit is generally better for jam because it holds its shape and has more pectin.

As often happens with these sorts of ambitious kitchen projects, I reached saturation point somewhere about three-quarters of the way through. I had already made two batches of apricot preserves when I took a look at a bowl of chopped up pluots that were destined for more jam. But I couldn't face stirring another pot and then dealing with the sticky mess afterward, so I stuck the pluots in the refrigerator.

Later that night I decided to work the jam concept - and those chopped pluots - into a savory sauce for grilled lamb. Making preserves is all about cooking fruit with sugar until it gels, which can take quite a bit of time, but you can do a simplified version for quick sauces that don't need to be as thick.

Fresh herbs, sauteed onion and garlic provide a savory balance to the sweet fruit, and red wine makes the combination saucy and a bit pickle-y. I added some sugar to thicken the sauce a bit, but not so much that it was cloying. The sauce actually tasted too sour at first, but was just right with the rich grilled lamb and the Syrah we poured with it.

The following week, the jam class turned out to be a fun way to spend an evening. About eight of us gathered in a friend's tucked-away garden cottage in Noe Valley, where Amy shared her canning wisdom and we chopped, measured and stirred for what seemed like forever, then poured our glistening creations into waiting jars (and shared the dishwashing). The event was to raise funds for our kids' school; sometimes Amy conducts private canning workshops (go to thesucculence.com) or you can always plan your own jam-making party with friends.

This is the time of year we all need foods to bring to potlucks or picnics. I've been making a lot of whole grain salads lately for this purpose and recently decided to make one with a mix of wheat berries, barley and brown rice, mostly because I had small amounts of each in the pantry.

I started a pan of salted water, added the wheat berries to cook for about 25 minutes, then the barley, then the brown rice. Then I drained them all together and spread them out on a pan to cool.

You can add almost anything from there - but I was pretty happy with the combination of sauteed Swiss chard and crunchy corn, with some chopped tomatoes and a sherry vinaigrette. Serve it as is, piled with fresh cheese, or as a side dish to the Grilled Lamb Chops with Savory Pluot "Jam;" the grains' earthy flavor works deliciously with the succulent, smoky red meat.

Either way, you'll have a cooking adventure worthy of a summer evening.