Chicken & Mushroom Alfredo

Spring 2026 and the fourth growing season on the land. The food forest was unmistakably a forest now—the persimmons had reached ten, twelve feet, the pawpaws were dense and multi-stemmed, the hazelnuts had spread into proper thickets. Walking through it in April with the redbuds blooming around the edges of the timber felt like walking through something that had been there much longer than four years. The land had absorbed the planting. The planting had become the land.

I put in the garden beds differently this year—reorganized to take advantage of what I'd learned about this specific soil over three seasons. The heirloom bean bed moved to the east slope where the persimmon shade would reach it by July, keeping it from burning in late summer. The tomatoes stayed where they'd been, in the best light. Added a new bed for medicinal herbs: yarrow, elderberry, echinacea, a cluster of wild bergamot for the tea.

Kai helped on the replanting weekends, and River came twice with Caleb. River had grown another few inches over winter and was at that stage of five-year-old where he wanted to do everything himself and could do about sixty percent of it properly. I let him do the sixty percent and guided the other forty without making a project of it. He planted a row of beans in his own section of the garden—Caleb had negotiated him a small corner—and checked on them with scientific regularity every visit.

The ramp season came in April, earlier than usual, and the morels followed. Both were strong this year. I collected enough ramps to dry a significant quantity for use through the year. The morels I ate immediately. You eat morels immediately. That's the rule.

The morel rule is real — you don’t let them sit, you don’t save them for later, you cook them the same evening you carry them out of the woods. This year’s haul was the best I’ve seen in four seasons on the land, and it called for something that could hold all that richness without getting in the way of it. Chicken & Mushroom Alfredo was the obvious answer: a creamy, deeply savory pasta that lets the mushrooms be the centerpiece, built for a night when the garden is waking up and the forest has already been generous.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

12 oz fettuccine pasta
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced thin
2 cups mushrooms, sliced (morels, cremini, or a mix)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for pasta water
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

Instructions

Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook fettuccine according to package directions until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water before draining. Set pasta aside.
Sear the chicken. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season chicken slices with salt and pepper. Cook 4–5 minutes per side until golden and cooked through. Transfer to a plate and tent loosely with foil.
Saute the mushrooms. In the same skillet, add remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and the butter over medium heat. Add mushrooms and cook undisturbed for 3 minutes, then stir and cook another 2 minutes until golden. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
Build the sauce. Pour in the heavy cream and stir to combine with the mushrooms. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook 3–4 minutes until the cream reduces slightly. Stir in Parmesan, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. If the sauce is too thick, add reserved pasta water a splash at a time.
Combine and finish. Return the cooked chicken to the skillet. Add the drained fettuccine and toss everything together over low heat until the pasta is well coated and heated through, about 2 minutes.
Serve. Divide among four bowls and top with fresh parsley and additional Parmesan if desired. Eat immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chicken & Mushroom Alfredo — A Morel Season Worth Celebrating