Sweet and sour grilled plums with grilled cheese: kebabs or a la carte

Author Notes

Take some vibrant mediterranean spices, add plums and a grilling cheese, and you can create innovative summer hors d'oeuvres or a side dish for your entree. To save time I cut the plums just shy of the stone on both sides. The remaining stone and flesh I will cook into a preserve, where it will be very easy to remove the pits later. In this recipe I am striving to get a perfect sweet and sour balance. I have added exotic spices that will accentuate the tartness of the sweet plum. If you do not have Sapa (http://www.nudo-italia.com/products/51?category=4) you could try adding sweetened coffee to this marinade as a substitute. The marinade may vary for the degree of tartness your plums have, not to mention your personal taste. So add more sugar if your plums are really tart. It is important to use a grilling cheese. I have chosen to marinade both the cheese and the plums. You can cook these as kebabs, or simply altogether in a grill pan. Both options are illustrated. Photos include the plums during the marinade process (in bowls and on a plate), during grilling, as well as plated. If you want kebabs, but do not want to fuss grilling them in that form, you can make the kebabs after everything is cooked using toothpicks. Larger plums will take much longer to cook than smaller ones, but I found that it was easy to cook different types of plums on the grill at the same time. You just have to keep a watchful eye on them all. Obviously, grilling times will vary, but I am giving what my times were with large black plums and tiny golden cherry plums. Serve these with a cool sour cream, Greek yogurt or creme fraiche, lemon and rosemary sprigs. This can be eaten as a first course or in place of a side veg. (like beets) so I am putting it in the vegetable category for that reason. —Sagegreen