I have been watching a disturbing amount of Chopped lately on Food Network (thanks, U-Verse!). Watching trained chefs being tortured into producing edible dishes from scratch around oddball ingredients in 15 or 30 minutes (depending on the course) is oddly compelling, as well as occasionally inspiring.

Today's post was dinner earlier this week, and it is inspired by Chopped, as well as a big bag o' broccoli that the Mrs. had purchased from Costco: Curried broccoli pesto over creamy polenta.

For the pesto: bring a pot of water to boil and add about 4 cups of broccoli florets (cut into bite-sized pieces). Boil for about 2 1/2 minutes until just tender. Remove from the pot (reserving about 4 cups of boiling liquid for the polenta), shock in icewater to preserve the color, and drain.

To your food processor, add 1 tablespoon green curry paste (I use Thai Kitchen), 1-2 tablespoons chopped ginger, 3-4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped, a half-cup or so of fresh basil leaves (I had around 10-12 leaves fresh from my back yard), 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1-2 tablespoons soy sauce (I was making a vegan version; for better flavor, substitute fish sauce), the juice of one lime, a teaspoon of sambal and/or a tablespoon of Sriracha for some heat, two cups of the cooked broccoli florets, 1/4 cup chopped cilantro (or parsley for a lighter flavor -- the Mrs. abhors cilantro, so I used parsley), and about 1/2 cup coconut milk. Process until smooth. Adjust seasonings. Reserve the remaining florets for topping the dish.

For the polenta: bring about 3 1/2 cups of the boiling liquid back to a boil in a saucepan. Stirring, pour in one cup of polenta (coarse corn meal) with a big pinch of salt. Continue to stir, lowering heat to simmer. This will quickly thicken to a heavy porridge (4-5 minutes). At this stage, gradually stir in about one cup of coconut milk. This should take another 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat and let stand, covered for a couple minutes, stirring occasionally so that no crust develops. You want the polenta to be creamy -- thick enough so that it will spread only a little on the plate, but not gooey.

To serve, spoon polenta into the centers of pasta plates, top with about a half cup of pesto plus 4-5 floret pieces and a sprinkling of chopped cilantro. Makes about 5 servings.

Goes great with a Victory Prima Pils.