Can anybody recommend some basic books/papers making easier to start with LES modeling of turbulent combustion (in ICE-like configurations, for example)?

If you want an up-to-date review of LES methods, I recommend a book that just came out. It is written by Pierre Sagaut and published by Springer-Verlag. I can't recall the title (it does have large-eddy simulation in it though) but I know it was just published a few months ago. As far as LES of combustion, I think some people are working on it at Caltech. I am thinking of Prof. Leonard, but I may be wrong.

1. P. Sagaut: (1998) Introduction a la simulation des grandes echelles pour les ecoulements de fluide incompressible ISBN: 3-540-64684-1