c/o Kat Hernandez

As a self-proclaimed New York City food connoisseur, I have to admit that what gets me to eat out isn’t actually hunger, but the novelty of a new food. In a city brimming with new and trendy spots to try, a telling sign that an eat is worthwhile is that I go back again.
It was a Sunday morning at Ella’s Cafe on Manhattan’s Upper East Side when I found myself eyeing my friend’s hummus platter instead of my own order: olives, green apples, brie, arugula, and fig jam on a multigrain roll. Now, this might have been influenced by my ongoing obsession with hummus, but that’s another story. It wasn’t love at first sight, or bite, and it probably took me until after finishing the first half of my roll before I knew. This wasn’t just any sandwich—it was THE sandwich. The thought of it didn’t just linger in my mind, I genuinely spent the entire summer waiting for an excuse to try it again, and try it again (and again) I did.
There’s a special kind of magic when you try a food for the first time, but every time I had this sandwich, it was just as good as that first fateful day. And so, after a summer of practically drooling over it, and after finding a roll of brie cheese in my fridge, I decided to try my hand at this recipe (as well as to save myself $13 and a subway ride). It turned out to be a moment of pure culinary triumph—that feeling of slicing a freshly assembled sandwich in half, come on! I felt like Picasso but in the kitchen—so, maybe more like Gordon Ramsay?

The ingredients work so perfectly together that the recipe is as simple as it is satisfying. After all, it is just a sandwich!

Ingredients:
2 slices of bread (the bread variety is up to you! Ella’s Cafe uses a sliced multigrain roll, but I think that sourdough works equally well)
1 tablespoon fig jam
Thinly sliced green apple
3-4 slices brie cheese
1 handful pitted and sliced olives
1 small handful arugula
Note: Feel free to alter the ratios to your tastes!

Assembly:
If using a roll, cut it in half and spread a thin layer of fig jam on one slice of bread. Layer on the brie, followed by the olives, the apple slices, and finally, a garnish of arugula. (Pro tip: add a few dollops of fig jam in between the layers so that you get a little bit in every bite. The subtle sweetness is what makes the flavor combo so good.) Sandwich it up, slice it in half, and voila!

P.S. Since this is a sandwich, it is also highly customizable. One alteration I am keen to try is smoked turkey, and it would be more nutritionally viable. Protein, fruit (jam), dairy, grains, and vegetables, what more do you need!

If only the Usdan deli center had brie….

Kat Hernandez can be reached at khernandez@wesleyan.edu.