February 2023

For a stromboli that's easy to put together, we started off with store-bought pizza dough. After rolling the dough into a rectangle, we layered provolone, mozzarella, sautéed broccoli, roasted red peppers, and kalamata olives (which added a bright, salty balance to the mixture) evenly over the dough. Then we brushed the borders of the dough with egg (to seal the seams) and folded the stromboli like a letter to seal in all the filling ingredients.

We experimented with the familiar cast of characters used to develop vegan cheese-like sauces—cashews, nutritional yeast, and miso, along with various vegetables. Tasters were largely distracted by their vegetal flavors and pasty textures. The most neutral-tasting ingredient in the lot was potato, and we had a revelation when we broke a cardinal kitchen rule: We whirred boiled potatoes in the blender at high speed to release as much gummy, gluey starch as possible.