Product Description

At California Pizza Kitchen restaurants across the country, many of the favorite dishes (and most-requested recipes) are not the pizzas! Customers keep coming back for the boldly flavored pastas, soups, salads, and side dishes. The follow-up to the bestselling California Pizza Kitchen Cookbook, this new cookbook serves CPK customers just what they ordered -- secret restaurant recipes, never available before. With gorgeous color photographs of the finished dishes throughout the book, CPK fans will be tempted by recipes for Oriental Chicken Salad, Spinach Artichoke Dip, and Kung Pao Spaghetti, to name just a few.

The new cookbook will include stories and anecdotes from CPK employees from around the country about favorite recipes, customers, and more. In the generous spirit they're best known for, CPK owners Larry Flax and Rick Rosenfield will donate all royalties and proceeds from sales of the book in the restaurants to children's charities.

Just like the first CPK cookbook, expect Pasta, Salads, Soups, and Sides to be one of the hottest cookbooks of the year. The CPK chain of restaurants is bigger than ever, and thi5 new hook will be published in the cool California style that has made the first book and the restaurants themselves so popular.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #139898 in Books
• Published on: 1999-06-02
• Released on: 1999-05-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 112 pages

From Booklist
High-spirited, egalitarian, and eclectic describe aspects of the California Pizza Kitchen style. In addition to the melange of distinctive ingredients one finds on this restaurant chain's pizza menus, other appealing victuals are featured. The newest effort by restaurateurs Flax and Rosenfield presents adventurous ways of preparing popular ethnic foods, such as spring rolls that meld teriyaki chicken with tortillas and Thai satay sauce. Spaghetti is transformed by a dousing of Kung Pao sauce for a spicy twist on an Italian theme. Creative appetizers, pastas, salads, soups, and sandwiches are accompanied by a handful of delectable desserts. Employees of the restaurant chain contribute commentary here and there to enhance this, the California Pizza Kitchen's second cookbook. Alice Joyce

About the Author
Larry Flax and Rick Rosenfield, co-founders of California Pizza Kitchen, were friends and law partners before they opened the first CPK in Beverly Hills in 1985. The chain now includes more than eighty-five restaurants nationwide.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Grilled Sausage and Pepper Penne

Makes 4 to 6 servings

CPK employees consistently rate this among their top-three personal favorites. Just like our Chicken Sausage and Pepper Sandwich, it captures the abondanza of Italian trattoria food. With the wide variety of fresh sausages available today, you can produce many different versions of this recipe. But we still prefer it with old-fashioned Italian-style sausages seasoned with sweet-tasting fennel seeds and spicy flecks of crushed red chili pepper.

About 3 cups Marinara Sauce
8 fresh sweet-and-spicy italian sausage links, about 6 ounces each
1 pound dry penne
1/4 cup olive oil
3/4 medium white onion, thinly sliced
3/4 medium yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
3/4 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced
2teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

1. Preheat a stovetop grill or the broiler. Grill or broil the sausages until cooked through and nicely browned, about 12 minutes. Let them cool for a few minutes, then place in a covered container and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 1 hour. With a sharp knife, cut each link at a 45-degree angle into 1/4-inch-thick elliptical slices. Set aside in the refrigerator.

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a rapid boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, 8 to 9 minutes.

3. While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, just until the vegetables become limp, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the sausage slices and cook, stirring, about 1 minute more. Stir in the Marinara Sauce, salt, and pepper and bring the sauce to a simmer. When it begins to simmer, sprinkle and stir in the Parmesan cheese.

4. Drain the pasta thoroughly and immediately toss it with the sauce in a large mixing or serving bowl. Serve family-style or transfer to individual serving bowls, evenly distributing the sausage and vegetables.

Roasted Garlic Paste

Makes about 1/2 cup

Roasted gently in the oven, garlic caramelizes, developing a rich, sweet flavor a world apart from its more familiar, pungent personality. This paste, which flavors several of our most popular pasta dishes, is easy to make. It keeps well in the refrigerator for several days, stored in an airtight container with its surface smoothed flat and completely covered with a film of olive oil.

2/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh garlic
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 to 4 tablespoons cold water

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F.

2. In a mixing bowl, toss the garlic pieces with the olive oil to coat evenly. Spread the garlic pieces evenly on the bottom of a small baking pan and roast until their edges begin to brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the pan, and with a spoon or spatula, scrape up and turn the garlic; then return the pan to the oven and roast until the garlic is uniformly golden brown, about 15 minutes more. Set aside to cool completely.

3. Put the roasted garlic pieces and 2 tablespoons of the water in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Process, scraping the bowl down occasionally, until the garlic is pureed to a paste with the consistency of smooth peanut butter. If necessary, add the remaining water. Transfer to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Customer Reviews

Great recipe book that helps expand culinary horizons
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.

Great Spring Rolls!
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.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust = Wow!
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.