Product Description
Complete Book of Italian Cooking is packed with hundreds of mouth-watering recipes for a wide variety of Italian dishes. There are simple but classic favourites such as Minestrone, Pasta Carbonara and Pizza Primavera as well as some more unusual dishes such as Peach and Raspberry Pizza and Tuna and Harissa Risotto. There are inspiring dishes for every occasion, from a formal dinner party to a quick Sunday dinner. Fail-safe cooking instructions guide you through all the basic techniques to produce perfect results every time, from creamy and velvety risotto to light but pliable pasta dough. The recipes are versatile, so that with a simple change of key ingredient you can produce dozens of delicious variations. ... Read more

Product Description
This pasta and pizza book contains simple st ep-by-step illustrations which make each recipe very easy to follow and large, bright photographs make each dish look ap petizing. ' ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A perfect, "kid friendly" introduction
Part of the Usborne Cooking School series, Pasta & Pizza For Beginners is the collaborative effort of author Fiona Watt, designer Mary Cartwright, illustrator Howard Allman, and features the recipes of Julia Kirby-Jones, as well as food preparation tips by Ricky Turner and Lizzie Harris. Young chefs will learn how to properly cook pasta, master a delicious variety of past recipes, make a pizza base, and successfully execute a welcome diversity of pizza recipes. A perfect, "kid friendly" introduction to making delicious past dishes and appetizing pizzas, Pasta & Pizza For Beginners is enthusiastically recommended for all aspiring young cooks! ... Read more

Product Description
This classic cookbook brings together 87 recipes for pasta sauces and 36 pizza and calzone recipes, as well as tasty pasta doughs, such as buckwheat, red pepper and saffron. Featuring beautiful line drawings throughout, the book is a feast for the eyes as well as the palate. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Great Product
This book was delivered on time and in very good condition.Can't ask for more!

Excellent, simple, and inventive pasta
I can't speak for the pizza and calzone section of this book, but I have made quite a few of the pasta recipes and have been delighted with the results.Perhaps even more than the recipes in the other Chez Panisse books, the pasta recipes are inventive yet simple, showcasing the ingredients and combining a small selection of flavors to produce surprisingly wonderful results.Alice Waters does unexpected things with pasta that, for me, have transformed pasta from a boring "filler meal" (box of spaghetti plus jar of tomato sauce) into a satisfying and even exciting main course.

The pasta recipes have something to offer for all tastes and diets.A lot of the recipes here involve fish, but there are plenty that don't.There are vegetarian recipes and recipes with meat.My personal favorites are the spaghetti with meatballs, the fall pasta with spicy Italian sausage, and the winter pasta with greens, sausage, and olives.Meat here tends to play a supporting role--it's like a condiment, adding flavors but not overwhelming the other ingredients.

The recipes are presented in a straightforward fashion, with a clear list of ingredients and (what I think are) simple, clear instructions.At times, Waters assumes that you can fend for yourself a bit ("cook about five minutes, until browned" without telling you a temperature setting, for example), so parts of the instructions might be intimidating to new cooks.However, she never leaves you in the dark about anything important.At times, she does use some "advanced" culinary language--like "chiffonade"--but this is rare and these terms are easy to look up on the internet or in other cookbooks.I don't think there's anything in the book that isn't accessible to all levels of cooks.Just be aware that the recipes assume that the reader is not afraid of cooking.

This is probably my most-used Chez Panisse book, and I think anyone interested in learning new ways to approach pasta should enjoy it.

Highly recommend!

Some delicious recipes you can make simpler on your own
I have been using the cookbook for about 6 or 7 years now. It is by far the most used cookbook on my rather stocked cookbook shelf. There are so many things to love about this book, especially the way it is divided by seasons so you can easily choose a recipe made with ingredients that are in season, which, of course, is what has made Alice Waters a legend. Since I don't have hours to spend in the kitchen, I do not make my own pasta as the recipes suggest. That cuts down significantly on the time involved, and, although I imagine that well-made fresh pasta is a delight, I have found every dish I've tried utterly delicious -- not lacking in flavor, texture, or excitement despite the use of your ordinary dried pasta. I absolutely love the linguini with cherry tomato vinagrette, and during tomato season we eat this almost every week. It's easy and delicious, and you can make most of it ahead of time, just cooking the pasta at the last minute and tossing it all together.The only drawback is that some of the recipes are just way too involved for your average person, but for a cookbook inspired by such a legendary restaurant and chef, there are many recipes that are simple enough for just about anybody to make.

No basics but some standouts
I've made many of the recipes here, and have had some great successes. For my birthday I made three pans of mushroom lasagne and people were floored. The chicken and ricotta ravioli are a staple. There are times I feel a little limited by its specificity and taste, but then this isn't supposed to be a general purpose cookbook. In that regard, I find the dessert cookbook to be the most consistently useful.

(A little off topic: too bad the previous reviewer resents the restaurant for having changed with the times. I've had fantastic meals there recently. Alice is an icon now rather than a restaurateur, but the institution still commands respect.)

Typical of source
First the good: great illustrations, printed on fine quality stock.

Now the rest:

AW's addition to America's favorite bedtime reading, but best not to use it as a cooking text (perhaps ideas are interesting for adaptation)

Sorry, like the restaurant, all marketing, little substance.
The restaurant was good, when you paid $7.95 (all you can eat) for its experiments, but for $100 with expensive wine-list (few ready for drinking) it's an insult.

I do appreciate the charge that Alice Waters has given to the stature of cooking, and the new restaurants she's inspired, but her's is not a star.

Back to the book.Interesting read, with some original ideas, but the book seems to have been released before it was field tested.I had one of the original copies, and even some of the basic recipes just didn't work chemically e.g., hand-made pasta had the wrong proportions (perhaps they've fixed this.)

So if you want to read how Alice tells us how Waters changed the face of cooking in America, it's entertaining.The reality is that all that she invented was out of ignorance, as all of it is found in escoffier's turn of the century Ma Cuisine (hyper-reduced sauces, fresh ingredients, etc..)Better, buy Escoffier's book instead (though assumes that you know how to cook.)

If you know how to cook, buy a good cookbook, if you don't by a basic cookbook, if you want to buy a present for somebody impressed with marketing, this is the one for you! ... Read more

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.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

CPK Cookbook
Great item.Looks brand new and fast shipping.

Thanks!

Helps you recreate your CPK favorites at home
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.

Okay Cookbook
I am a pretty good cook and an avid CPK customer.I did not feel the food tasted as good as from the restaurant.I know that restaurants have better stoves and ovens but I just did not enjoy the items I made.Not a bad cookbook as it does make you want to go to CPK to eat.

California Pizza Kitchen Pa...
If you're going to buy any of the California Pizza Kitchen cook books, THIS is the one to buy.I bought another one first, but it didn't have their more popular recipes in it.This one is great.I must say that the final products taste just as good as at the restaurant itself.A very pleasant surprise.

Amazing Recipes in this book!!!
I hosted Bunko a couple of weeks ago with a "pizza" theme.After I opted to order some fancy pizzas from CPK (pre-baked - all I had to do was stick them in the oven for 5 minutes), I chose to do the Spinach and Artichoke Dip from this book as well as the Field Greens Salad and the White Balsamic Provencal Salad.Well, the dip was amazing!One of the ladies said:"Just give me a spoon!" to which we all had a good laugh!It was that good!!!The Field Greens Salad (I substituted sugared walnuts and pear for the tomatoes) was a total "hit" as well!I will make these recipes again and again! ... Read more

Product Description
Knead begins with a section of tools and prime conditions for kneading, including essential advice on prepping surfaces for kneading and choosing the proper raising agent. It then imparts the components of technique so that cooks will know how easy this base for recipes truly is. The section on technique is rich with tips on how the kneading affects baking times, and it teaches the skill of timing, essential for creating simple to elaborate dishes and sides, whether cooks are kneading or not. Based in technique, this book provides 75 mouth-watering recipes for breads, pastas, and pastries so cooks can gain confidence in the careful skill of kneading. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great cookbook!
Have made several recipes from this book - directions are easy to understand and the baked item turned out good.Pizza section is excellent

Knead: Expert Breads, Baguettes, Pretzels, Brioche, Pastries, Pizza, Pastas,Pies
This is a great book for anyone who wants to explore baking. Is is simple, well written and easy to follow. I highly recommend it. ... Read more

Product Description
Italian cuisine is known throughout the world for its hearty combination of ingredients and simple cooking techniques. Pizzas and pasta dishes epitomize this traditional approach to cooking, and they have become Italy's most popular culinary export. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Over sixty delicious pasta and pizza recipes using only the tastiest and best of Italian ingredients in classic and unusual ways. ... Read more

Product Description
A delightful and practical book designed for the modern cook who wants to prepare authentic Italian food in their own home. ... Read more

Product Description
With its sunny, rich flavours, fresh simplicity and relaxed, colourful presentation, it is little wonder that Italian food is popular the world over. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

eh, I'm not impressed
I mainly bought this book because I wanted to make traditional pizza dough. But, the instructions are too vague, there are really not that many recipes in this book, in my opinion it is not worth buying this book. It has a lot of pictures, but half the book is just about what toppings you can put on a pizza, it is like having a recipe for boiling water. With pizza you can add whatever toppings you like, you need no book to instruct you on this. It does give you recipes for pizza dough (3 to 5 types if I remember correctly) and it tells you how to make different types of pasta. But it could have given you all the info you need with 10 pages, the rest seems like filler to me... and I don't like fillers.

Find this book in a bookstore and flip through it before you buy it. You may still want it, but I'm guessing you will find something better ... Read more

Product Description
-Pizzas and pasta are loved by teenagers the world over, they make great family meals and are perfect for casual entertaining, but best of all they are good for you.
-In Quick and Easy Pizzas and Pasta you will find many exciting recipes and ideas for easy entertaining, family meals, the health-conscious and vegetarians. ... Read more