Penne From Heaven

April 2025. The morel season came and I took Kai out three mornings. He was twelve now and would let himself be openly enthusiastic about things he cared about without it costing him anything socially, which is a quality in a twelve-year-old I appreciated and tried not to disrupt with too many adult observations. He found more than me two of the three mornings. I let him count.

We also took River out on the third morning—Caleb brought him, and at four years old River had the attention span for about forty-five minutes of focused searching before the woods became primarily a place to look at interesting rocks and sticks. He found no morels. He found seventeen rocks, a very large moth, and what he believed was a dinosaur bone but which was a deer rib. He brought the deer rib home and put it in a box in Caleb's garage for safekeeping. Caleb said he thought this was probably fine.

I made the morel butter pasta at the barn that evening—three generations at the table, more or less, even if the generations don't quite line up in the traditional way. Kai who is learning. River who is beginning. Caleb who is building his own knowledge alongside his son's. I'm in the middle, which is where Danny always was in relation to me.

The pawpaw trees flowered this spring for the first time. Not producing yet—the flowers need pollination and the fruit takes through August—but flowering. The orchard is becoming what it was planted to be. The patience of it is the whole lesson.

The morels came home in a cloth bag, still smelling like rain-soaked bark, and what I wanted that evening was something that would hold the whole day together without asking too much of anyone—including me. Caleb was rinsing River’s rocks in the sink, Kai was recounting his finds with the kind of quiet satisfaction I hope he holds onto, and what the table needed was pasta: warm, simple, generous. This penne has that quality. It doesn’t demand attention; it just shows up right.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 lb penne pasta
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
1/2 cup pasta cooking water, reserved
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for pasta water
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Instructions

Boil the pasta. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Cook penne according to package directions until al dente. Before draining, scoop out 1/2 cup of pasta cooking water and set aside. Drain the pasta and set aside.
Build the sauce base. In a large, deep skillet or saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant and just turning golden, about 2 minutes. Do not let the garlic brown.
Deglaze and reduce. Pour in the white wine and stir to combine. Let it simmer until reduced by about half, 3–4 minutes.
Add the cream. Pour in the heavy cream, stir to incorporate, and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook until the sauce thickens slightly, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Finish with cheese. Reduce heat to low. Add the Parmesan in two additions, stirring well after each until fully melted and smooth. Season with salt and black pepper.
Toss with pasta. Add the drained penne to the skillet and toss to coat. If the sauce feels thick, add the reserved pasta water a splash at a time until it reaches a silky, flowing consistency that coats each piece of pasta.
Brighten and serve. Stir in the lemon juice and half the parsley. Transfer to a large serving bowl or serve directly from the pan. Scatter remaining parsley on top and pass extra Parmesan at the table.

Nutrition (per serving)

Penne From Heaven — The Pasta We Made After Coming Home from the Woods