Once Upon a Tart...: Soups, Salads, Muffins, and More from New York City's Favorite Bakeshop and Café by Carolynn Carreño and Frank Mentesana and Jerome Audureau

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Notes about Recipes in this book

  • Rosemary-whole wheat tart crust

    • Tommelise on September 20, 2011

      The rosemary add a very nice flavor to the crust.

  • Sauteed spinach-and-mushroom tart with ricotta cheese

    • Tommelise on September 20, 2011

      Another good recipe. I liked the combination of spinach and mushrooms. I used cottage cheese instead of ricotta, and reduced the other fluids a bit. The tart turned out fine.

  • Pear-ginger-raisin muffins

    • Tommelise on May 23, 2010

      The idea for this recipe is good, but next time I will use more ginger, I found the muffins quite bland. But the again I LOVE ginger, maybee it works for you?

  • Black olive tapenade

    • Tommelise on May 23, 2010

      You also need cloves and lemon to make the tapenade. It was quite fresh for a tapenade, probally due to the lemon juice

  • Haricot-vert-and-corn salad with roasted artichoke hearts and fresh tarragon-lemon vinaigrette

    • Lee on May 30, 2015

      Absolutely delicious. Made many times and people always go out of their way to say how good it is and look for leftovers to take home :)

  • Lemon-cream cheese icing

    • DKennedy on November 09, 2014

      This is a great recipe for cream cheese frosting. I use this to top the carrot apple cake from Huckleberry's Cookbook.

  • Dried apricot scones with pecans and shredded coconut

    • DKennedy on October 07, 2017

      Made for Tea '17. I made mine mini size so 18 to a batch instead of 8. I misread the recipe and therefore had to add the sugar at the end (because I didn't realize this counted as one of the dry ingredients. This did not appear to affect the outcome as they were still light and airy and pleasantly sweet. Both Claire and I approved. Batter can be made ahead and frozen Baked from frozen at 400 for 12 minutes.

  • Sun-dried tomato vinaigrette

    • eliza on September 25, 2016

      This vinaigrette has a strong flavour, and works well with grain salads made with bulgur or farro.

  • Curried corn chowder with coconut milk

    • hirsheys on September 10, 2017

      This is delicious - very complex and interesting. At first, I almost skipped using clarified butter because it seemed like it shouldn't matter. I think it does though, because it lets the curry powder bloom or caramelize or something.

    • mooo42 on September 13, 2020

      Added fresh ginger, toasted curry powder directly in pan with aromatics. Reserved one third of corn and added to soup after purring to have some texture. Served with seared scallops and made a tadik of toasted cumin seeds, mustard seeds and whole coriander. Drizzled over finished dish with toasted coconut.

  • Green-lentil soup with coconut milk and Indian spices

    • kprovost on October 27, 2020

      This is one of the best lentil soups I've had. I make it all the time. The spices turn it into something special.

  • Mushroom-barley soup with Spring vegetables

    • Nancith on May 03, 2018

      A light tasting, but filling soup due to the barley used. I do think it might benefit from either using all broth, rather than more than half the liquid being water, or from more intensive seasoning; Probably would work well with dill, basil, or marjoram. Makes quite a large pot of soup.

  • Corn-and-bulgur salad with cucumber, tomato, lemon, and parsley

    • Nancith on July 26, 2018

      This was a refreshing, lemony salad, very nice for a summer's day, and quite filling when accompanied by good bread and cheese. I used frozen corn, but certainly fresh would have been better. More parsley could have been added for my taste, or some other herb to give it a little more depth of flavor as it was just a bit ordinary tasting. Probably would be great to pack for a picnic.

  • Apple spice bundt cake

    • Nancith on September 19, 2022

      Well, I dubbed this "Disaster cake", because of issues mentioned by another reviewer: too much batter for the pan (mine DID overflow badly, but luckily I had a sheet pan under it), and lots of sticking to a well-prepared pan. My additional problem was having to add 30 minutes of baking time before it was actually done. I also halved the amount of cloves & nutmeg in deference to grandkids' palates. However, despite the disastrous baking process & appearance, everyone declared it delicious. Not sure if I will make again unless problems can be rectified.

    • rionafaith on October 31, 2017

      p. 289 -- I used my vintage enameled bundt pan that measures 10" across and the batter and large amount of apples just barely fit... I was actually nervous that it would overflow in the oven but it rose exactly to the top of the pan. Unfortunately, despite copious buttering and flouring it stuck pretty badly and broke when I was getting it out of the pan. I tried to cover it with the glaze but that actually made it look worse. :/ Still, my coworkers demolished this cake so I guess it tasted pretty good despite being ugly!

  • Wheat-berry-and-roasted-beet salad with ginger-curry vinaigrette

    • cadfael on March 09, 2014

      I half the recipe for me and B. and use scallions. I like to make dressing ahead and let flavours steep, strain most of the bits out for hubby, then add to the salad. very delicious

  • Maple-sugar glaze

    • rionafaith on October 31, 2017

      p. 290 -- Great idea to add maple syrup to a confectioner's sugar glaze, but this came out a bit clumpy despite sifting and just didn't look that appealing on the cake. The flavor was good with the Apple Spice Bundt Cake from the same book though.

  • Gooey, cheesy baked onion soup

    • Shelmar on September 03, 2019

      rather good

  • Honey-balsamic vinaigrette

  • Chilled avocado-and-cucumber soup with fresh dill

    • Running_with_Wools on February 05, 2023

      This is a flavorful no-cook blender soup. Best made in the dog-days of summer.

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  • ISBN 10 0307539156
  • ISBN 13 9780307539151
  • Published Feb 18 2009
  • Page Count 384
  • Language English
  • Countries United States
  • Publisher Knopf
  • Imprint Knopf Publishing Group

Publishers Text

Ten years ago, two men (one from France, one from New Jersey) hatched a plan to introduce the palates of New York to the gastronomic wonders of the tart--both sweet and savory. In a Long Island City warehouse bakery, Frank Mentesana (who trained under the sharp eye of his grandmother in her New Jersey kitchen) and Jerome Audereau (who once ran a tarterie in Avignon) took orders from upscale Manhattan grocers and restaurants. Almost immediately, their business flourished, leading them to a new frontier: Once Upon a Tart, their own cafe and bakeshop in SoHo.


Now, for the first time, they share their recipes for soups (Chickpea-Tomato with Fresh Rosemary), salads (Couscous with Roasted Vegetables and Sun-dried Tomatoes), sandwiches (Pork Loin with Frisee and Rosemary-Garlic Aioli on a Baguette; Chicken Caesar-ish Salad on Toasted Italian Country Bread), muffins (Honey-Corn; Pear-Ginger-Raisin), scones (Spiced Pumpkin with Fresh Cranberries), cookies (Hazelnut Meringues; Very Ginger Cookies) and, of course, tarts (Caramelized Leek and celery; Sauteed Spinach and Mushroom with Ricotta; Jerome's Mother's Famous Almond Tart).


Here, too, are technical tips and culinary wisdom (When people ask me for a low-calorie scone... I tell them: Eat half the scone, it's half the calories) from the cooks behind one of the best cafes and bakeshops in New York.



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