For the first ever Veg Out dinner and a movie pairing, we are going with a gluten-free, vegan pot pie and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” one of my all-time favorite movies. I’m deciding to call this recipe Sunshine Pie.

We’re putting the recipe up top because we know we all hate it when someone makes you read their life story before you learn what ingredients you need and how to make a pie.

Crust
2.5 cups 1-to-1 gluten free baking flour (chilled)
1 tablespoon sugar (chilled)
1 teaspoon salt (chilled)
1 cup margarine (chilled)
0.5 cups cold water
1 tablespoon rosemary-infused olive oil (for brushing)

Filling
1 brick firm or extra firm tofu, drained & cubed
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 tablespoon shallot-infused olive oil
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup unsweetened original almond milk
0.33 cups 1-to-1 gluten free baking flour
1 tablespoon garlic-infused olive oil
1 cup carrots, sliced
1 cup peas
1 large red potato, cubed

Instructions
Make sure all of your pie crust ingredients are chilled for at least 20 minutes before mixing them together.

In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine the chilled flour, sugar and salt needed for the crust. If mixing by hand, I highly recommend using a pastry cutter.

When the dry ingredients are mixed, add in the margarine one spoonful at a time. Then add the water, a quarter cup at a time.

Once your dough is thoroughly mixed and a little flaky, split it into two balls. Individually wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for an hour.

After your pie crust dough balls have had time to chill, preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease your pie pan.

In a bowl, mix together the cubed tofu, corn starch, shallot-infused olive oil and black pepper.

Then put it on a parchment-lined flat baking sheet or in your air fryer basket. Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes in the oven or at 390°F for 10 minutes in an air fryer.

While the tofu is baking/frying, prep your roux. On the stove top over medium high heat, whisk together the broth, almond milk, flour and garlic-infused olive oil in a saucepan.

Once it has reached a thick, gravy-like consistency, mix in the sliced carrots, peas, cubed potato and cooked tofu. Turn the burner down to a simmer.

Increase the oven temperature to 425°F. Roll out your bottom crust. I use a silicone baking mat to gage the circumference and my grandma’s wooden rolling pin. I coat both with a little flour to prevent sticking.

Place your bottom crust in the greased pie pan. Give the roux, veggie and tofu filling a final stir then fill the pie.

Roll out your top crust and carefully place it on top of the pie. Crimp the top crust to the bottom crust using your fingers or a fork. Brush the top of the pie with the rosemary-infused olive oil.

Use a fork or knife to carefully put vents in the top crust. You can do this randomly or get creative and make a design. I chose an abstract sun since we’re calling this Sunshine Pie.

Place it on top of a flat, lipped pan to prevent leakage to the bottom of your oven. (Trust me on this one, folks!)

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, then decrease the temperature to 400°F and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes.

When the crust is golden brown, remove it from the oven and let it cool for about 15 minutes. Then slice and serve!

Taking the Easy Route
Here at Veg Out, we encourage you to take the easy route when needed, whether that’s buying a pre-made crust or ordering a fresh-baked pot pie to be delivered to your door.

All of the infused olive oils I listed can also easily be replaced with whatever vegetable oil you have on hand, but you might want to add a teaspoon of garlic powder, asafoetida or rosemary to your filling with the oil.

The Pairing
“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is one of my favorite movies of all time. I saw it in the theater when I was a senior in high school, and it changed my perspective on how imaginative a film could be.

I was blown away by how it captures the nature of memories, both physically and emotionally; some details might be missing, but what remains is the way the person made you feel or one specific phrase they shared with you.

Alternatively, you can twist and tweak memories so much that they’re no longer an accurate depiction of what really happened.

After 20 years and a couple dozen more viewings of the movie, it still impresses me.

The ensemble cast is brilliant. Both Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet are stunning as they play against type. The zany antics of Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo and Kirsten Dunst provide some fun, alongside the even-handedness of Tom Wilkinson.

Carrey plays Joel Barrish, a recently dumped man who decides to try a new procedure that targets and erases memories tied to a specific person in your life. Winslet plays Clementine Kruczynski, his ex. Wilkinson is the doctor who invented the memory-erasing procedure, and Dunst, Ruffalo and Wood play three of his employees.

I truly love everything about this movie, from the story by Charlie Kaufman and the direction by Michel Gondry to the performances and the score by Jon Brion.

It is an exquisite dramatic film that still has joyously funny moments and plenty of heart, in large part due to the performances of Carrey and Winslet.

When this came out, Carrey was known for his zany characters in movies like “Ace Ventura” and “The Mask,” while Winslet was known for her English rose-type characters in movies like “Titanic” and “Sense & Sensibility.” I’ve heard her talk about how they were, in effect, playing each other’s roles, as Joel is a quiet homebody who keeps his emotions at bay and Clementine is a vivacious character who isn’t afraid to say what she’s thinking or how she’s feeling.

As I mentioned earlier, “Eternal Sunshine” is a movie I have returned to often in my adult life, especially when dealing with heartbreak and all the nuances of being in love. I cannot recommend it enough.

Speaking of love, I imagine you will quickly find that I love making pie (I’ve got a sweet pie on the docket for next month featuring a certain piemaker), so choosing pot pie for our inaugural post was a no-brainer.

I chose this pairing because it embodies what we want Veg Out to be: comfort food for the body and the mind.

Making this pie, like many vegan, gluten-free and/or vegetarian recipes, requires some imagination to get the right taste and consistency of the various components. Just like “Eternal Sunshine” builds on all of its various components to create what I think is a pretty perfect movie.

If you decide to make Sunshine Pie and/or watch “Eternal Sunshine,” let us know! Tag us in your Instagram posts & stories, tweets or TikTok videos: @veg_out_recipes

In this first year of Veg Out, we’ll be leaning heavily on our all-time favorite movies, TV shows and food. But don’t worry, we’re also mixing in a few newer favorites like “Always Be My Maybe,” “Resident Alien” and tempeh piccata.

Be sure to catch part two of our Veg Out launch double feature: Philadelphia Cheesecake (“The Philadelphia Story” and dairy-free, gluten-free cheesecake with strawberry and chocolate toppings).