NEW & NOTEWORTHY.

PRESERVES GALORE: Peaches, nectarines, plums, strawberries ... all the tastes of summer. Wouldn't it be nice to keep that summery fruit around all winter?

Two new books on canning and preserving may guide even the novice cook through the making of jams, jellies, marmalades, sauces, salsas, pickles, relishes and more with a minimum of cost, equipment and fuss.

In ``Blue Ribbon Preserves'' (HPBooks; $18.95), Southern Californian Linda J. Amendt - winner of more than 600 fair awards since 1990 for canned and preserved foods - offers an I-learned-by-doing guide that tells you how to preserve everything except your girlish figure.

Amendt not only offers her own recipes for everything from Peach Melba Jam and Tangerine Marmalade to Pickled Beets and Nasturtium Vinegar, she spills all her secrets about how to win blue ribbons at county and state fairs. (The biggest failure, she says, is not following the fair rules to the letter.) She also includes a long list of Web sites and addresses for state and local fairs so local cooks can get copies of those all-important rules for next year.

``The Complete Book of Year-Round Small-Batch Preserving'' (Firefly Books; $19.95), by Canadians Ellie Topp, a home economist, and Margaret Howard, a registered dietitian, tells how to make a little bit - generally two to five half-pint jars - of a lot of different fruit and veggie-based concoctions. There's even a recipe for oven-baked strawberry jam and real English marmalade. Measurements are given in both traditional and metric amounts.

Either cookbook should have readers hunting in a frenzy for canning jars, rings and lids before the summer fruit disappears.

- Carol Bidwell

WINE AND FOOD EXTRAVAGANZA: Mark your calendar for Sept. 22. That's the date of the 19th annual American Wine and Food Festival, organized by the Puck-Lazaroff Charitable Foundation. More than 30 of the nation's most talented chefs and 60 of the country's most respected vinters will join Wolfgang Puck and Barbara Lazaroff for a great American cookout at Universal Studios' backlot.

Attendees will have a chance to sample the delicious creations of Mark Peel and Nancy Silverton, Robert Del Grande, Lydia Shire, Norman Van Aken, Nobu Matsuhisa, Larry Forgione and more along with wonderful wines from Robert Mondavi, Sanford, Mayacamas, Justin, etc. It's bound to be a memorable evening of fabulous feasting. Proceeds will benefit Los Angeles chapters of Meals on Wheels including the one in the San Fernando Valley. The event will held from 6 to 10 p.m. Tickets are $250 per person in advance or $300 at the door, if not sold out. For reservations or more information, call [phone].

- Natalie Haughton

FROM TV TO MAGAZINE: After 20 years of ``Great Chefs'' telecasts spotlighting chefs from around the world, the Discovery Channel program is getting its own magazine.

The premiere, 112-page issue of Great Chefs Secret Recipes went on sale last month and will be on newsstands through August.

It should be noted that the publication's masthead does not list a food editor or test kitchen personnel; the chefs themselves are the final authorities on recipe content and accuracy. It'll be interesting to see how well the recipes work for home cooks.

If the recipes in the first issue, highlighting desserts, are any indication, it looks as though you'll need lots of time and patience to make many of the recipes. A White Chocolate Mousse Cake With Frangelico Cream and Hazelnut Praline, for instance, requires making five recipes prior to assembly - Hazelnut Praline, Chocolate Cake Layer, White Chocolate Mousse, Dark Chocolate Glaze and Frangelico Cream. It would be a lot simpler to visit the restaurant, providing it's nearby.

The magazine, published by H&S Media, Chicago, is slated to appear six times a year. The price per issue is $5.95.

- Daily News and Wire Services

DINING OUT

The latest food film, ``Tortilla Soup,'' opening Friday, called on the expertise of Border Grill/Ciudad celebrity chef-owners Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, known to television viewers as the Two Hot Tamales.

Now, local diners will be able to taste some of their featured movie dishes throughout the film's run at both restaurants.

At Border Grill look for special star creations such as plantain empanadas, chicken panuchos, green corn tamales, grilled cactus salad, sopes, carnitas, chicken pibil, baby octopus, capirotada bread pudding, porcupine cookies and, of course, tortilla soup.

Ciudad's movie specials will include tamarind-glazed lamb, romaine hearts with cabrales vinaigrette, oysters with chipotle mignonette and tomatillo salsa and Peruvian layered potato causa with prawns, as well as capirotada, porcupine cookies and, of course, tortilla soup.

Prices will range from $5.50 to $21 with cookies available for $2 each.

Incidentally, a third Border Grill is due to open next month in Pasadena.

And speaking of openings, a Jamba Juice outlet has made its debut at the Whole Foods Market, 21347 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills, [phone].

Border Grill, 1445 4th St., Santa Monica, [phone]. (Also in Las Vegas.) Ciudad, 445 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, [phone].

- Larry Lipson

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1) no caption (``Blue Ribbon Preserves'')

(2) no caption (``The Complete Book of Year-Round Small-Batch Preserving'')

(3) no caption (Great Chefs Secret Recipes magazine)

(4) TORTILLA SOUP