Customer Reviews

California Pizza Kitchen Pasta, Salads, Soups, And Sides

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I did not anticipate using this book very much, and purchased it intending to use one recipe I was familiar with and wanted. I ended up using nearly every recipe in the book. I have come to understand the artistry of cooking by studying the different uses of flavor and textures in this book. Whats even more appealing is that CPK donates all their proceeds from the book to charities. I would say the only downfall is that most recipes require planning (making the sauce the day before, stocking the oriental vegetable in the refrigerator, or cooking the chicken beforehand) I would definately say the final dishes are worth the preparation. This is especially a great book if you are interested in expanding the type of cuisine you eat (ie getting away from casseroles, chicken, mashed potatoes, the old standards) and eating more intersting and exotic foods, especially vegetables.

The reason why I bought this book was because of the Thai Chicken Springrolls. I always like buying them at CPK. Although they don't have the "Mediteranean" version in this cookbook I do enjoy the Thai ones very much due to their spicy sauce and fresh ingredients. One thing to know about the CPK cookbooks is that many of their recipes take a long time to prepare and several of them probably have ingredients that you won't normally have in your kitchen. The Thai rolls typically take me about three hours in total to make but like many of the dishes in this book, can be not fully assembled and stored in the refrigerator until it is time to do a final heating and serve. Once you serve them any problems that you had will be over though and you'll receive tons of compliments on your food.

The reason for a non-perfect score: I had difficulty finding portion sizes, nutritional information, and estimated number of servings per recipe. Additionally, the way that the text wraps around the pages can make it difficult to not skip steps by accident. My best recommendation for you if you buy this book is to read all recipes at least two times before you start to make sure that you understand the time required, steps, and have all of the ingredients.

If you love California, and pasta and pizza, this is a fun-loving and colorful collection of recipes. The whole wheat pizza crust recipe with honey is to die for! It works swell in a bread machine; or by following the "manual" directions. I don't use a preheated pizza pan, I just shape on a cold cookiesheet and place it in a heated oven, and it works swell. You feel like you're not having all the calories or the junk food when you have a whole wheat crust, so there's less guilt.

I like this one much better than the original California Pizza Kitchen Pizza recipe book. The pizzas really are too complicated for me to want to make at home. But the recipes in this book for soups, salads, sides & desserts are wonderful and easy to replicate at home.

We love the Spaghetti Carbonara and the Apple Crisp is the best I have ever had!

I loved California Pizza Kitchen restaurant when I lived in LA, and the book finally answered my question about barbeque chicken salad: "How they do it?" The salads and soups are great, despite million ingredients. What is bad in this book is salt. I don't know who wrote it but salt in each recepe more than twice as much as it should be. Put as recommended-and you want be able to touch it. This is very inconvenient, since I want to trust the recepes in a book that I buy. Another minus to the cook book-all dishes take a lot of time to prepare, so unless you are crazy about the taste (like I am about that Barbeque chicken salad), you might not appreciate the time spent.

These innovative restauranters have captured the loyalty of many customers who enjoy their unique pizzas but were asking for "significant others" i.e. salads, soups, desserts, sandwiches.

So here are the results. As a loyal customer who truly enjoys their food, this is excellent companion to their pizza cookbook.

There appetizers are a hit, especially the Bangkok BB! Chicken Tortilaa Spring Rolls, which is a takeoff on their hit first dish, BBQ Chicken Pizza. The Grilled Lime Chicken with Horseradish Cream Sauce and some heat with spices makes this an outstanding dish to prepare and serve. Takes a little effort but the raves will more than compensate.

I really enjoy their salads, and the White Balsamic Provencal Salad is healthy and delicious. Try the substitute of goat cheese for the feta.

The Tuscan Bean Soup with cabbage is hearty and satisfying as well is the Grilled Rosemary Chicken Sandwich.

Kung Pao Spahetti and Eggplant Parmesan Lasagne are favs at our table.

Desserts are straight forward and not very complex to prepare but worth the effort.

Though some of the recipes can be time consuming (bbq chicken salad...lots of chopping), they are absolutely delicious. To CPK's credit, they definately make you appreciate what you pay for. I use this book more than the pizza one. My favorite recipes are the BBQ chicken salad, Ceaser salad, the foccacia bread, the rosemary chicken sandwich, etc. Basically I cook the recipes I like to order and it tastes just like the restuarant, so make what you like to order :-).

An added bonus is that by cooking it myself, I can incorporate lower fat options and adjust the recipe to save on calories.

Happy cooking!

There is something definitely wrong with the Dakota Smashed Pea & Barley Soup recipe. It never calls for a hand-held blender to puree the peas (which is VERY necessary to make it like the restaurant), and the result after following the recipe to a T was terrible. Could be me, but we're unhappy with our first go at this...

If you're a fan of CPK salads then you will be pleasantly surprised to find your favorite ones here, as the BBQ Chopped Chicken Salad and the Oriental Chicken Salad. As for the first book, the recipes have a long list of ingredients, and are somewhat time consuming, but I personally think that it's worth all the trouble.

I got this cookbook because I loved the the Thai Chicken Tortilla Spring Rolls and wanted to make them at home. The results were phenomenal. They tasted just like the ones I have gotten in the restaurant and best of all I could adapt them to meet my personal preferences. I've made them with tofu as well for my vegetarian friends and have gotten rave reviews for that version as well. So far I have gone on to have great results with many other recipes like Jambalaya Pasta with Chicken, which is equally delicious.

As other reviewers have mentioned, these recipes are pretty involved and call for quite a lot of ingredients. However, I find that the results are worth it because the flavor is so close to what you get in the restaurant. Also, some of the components can easily be made ahead of time to get the meal on the table more quickly when you want to eat. For example, when I made the Tortilla Spring Rolls for a party I made all of the components ahead of time so that all I had to do before the party was assemble and bake.

Overall if you don't mind long ingredient lists and a bit of prep time I think you'll be impressed with how much these recipes taste like their restaurant counterparts. I can't wait to try more recipes from the book.