Broccoli Rabe Chicken Pasta Bowl

Directions

1. Peel and cut the broccoli rabe. Remove the leaves by pulling them downward, away from the head of the vegetable. This should remove with it some of the tough skin. If, when you're done, some of the tough skin remains, peel it off using a vegetable peeler. Cut the broccoli rabe and stems into bite sized pieces. Add it to a pot of room temperature water, and bring it to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, immediately drain, and then set aside.
2. Cook the fusilli in 2 1/2 quarts of water and 1 Tbsp of salt until al dente. For cooking time, refer to the cooking instructions on the box. Mine, for example, took about 12 minutes of boiling. For more tips on making amazing pasta, refer to the body of my blog post.
3. While the pasta is boiling away, trim then tendons off of your chicken tenderloins and cut them into bite sized pieces. In a large pan, heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil over medium high heat and add your chicken to the pan, evenly browning on two sides. This will take about 4 minutes total. Turn the heat down to medium, add an additional 2 Tbsp of olive oil to the pan, and once it's heated add the shallots and cook for 2 minutes. Then add the garlic and pepper flakes and cook for an additional minute. Remove from the heat until the pasta is done cooking.
4. Once the pasta has cooked to the point of being al dente, remove it from the heat. Reserve 1 C of pasta water and then drain the pasta without rinsing.
5. Return the pan with the chicken up to medium high heat. Toss in the broccoli rabe and sauté for 2 minutes to reheat. Next, toss in the pasta and gently stir to coat in olive oil. If it seems dry add 2 Tbsp of the reserved pasta water to the pan at a time until it's silky.
6. Remove from the heat and garnish with freshly grated parmesan.