Rigatoni with Wild Mushrooms, Garlic Truffle Cream, Poached Egg

Rigatoni with Wild Mushrooms
Garlic Truffle Cream, Poached Egg

This Rigatoni with Wild Mushrooms recipe was inspired by a recent trip to Death Valley National Park and two delightful dinners at the Dining Room at The Inn where we ordered their excellent “Pasta de Hongos” both nights.

The drive into Death Valley from Las Vegas feels like entering another world. The landscape shifts slowly to bare rock, wide salt flats, and mountains that look carved out of ash. When we arrived at The Inn at Death Valley, it truly felt like an oasis. Lush palms, green lawns, a spring-fed pool, and a long, low stone building nestled into the hillside.

Originally built in the 1920s, The Inn has been beautifully restored. It still has that classic, almost retro desert-resort feel, but with updated rooms and modern touches that make it really comfortable.

It is located at Furnace Creek, which is one of the most central and accessible points in Death Valley National Park. From there, it’s easy to drive to the major sights.

Watching the sunrise from the terrace outside the dining room with a view of the Panamint Mountains catching the first light was unreal—warm pinks and soft gold sliding slowly down the slopes as the sky turned pale blue. With a cup of coffee and that kind of view, there’s really no better start to the day.

Rigatoni with Wild Mushrooms Recipe
and
Death Valley National Park

Rigatoni with Wild Mushrooms, Garlic Truffle Cream

Ingredients

8 oz. rigatoni pasta
2 T. butter
1 T. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz. mushrooms, trimmed or sliced
1/4 c. dry white wine
1 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
1 T. truffle oil, plus more for drizzling
salt and black pepper
poached eggs
chopped parsley
red chile flakes

Method

Cook the rigatoni in a large pot of salted water al dente. Before draining, reserve about a cup of the pasta water and set it aside.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the butter and olive oil over medium heat. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook them for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. These mushrooms were brown beech, golden oyster, and maitake. Stir in the minced garlic and cook for another minute.

Pour in the white wine to deglaze. Let the wine simmer and reduce for about 2 to 3 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Lower the heat and add the heavy cream. Allow it to simmer gently for another 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then slowly add the grated Parmesan cheese, stirring until it melts into the sauce and thickens slightly. Turn off the heat and stir in the truffle oil. Season the sauce with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Add the drained rigatoni directly into the skillet with the sauce, tossing everything together until the pasta is well coated. If the sauce feels too thick, add a splash or two of the reserved pasta water to loosen it up.

Meanwhile, cook the poached eggs a little longer than you would for breakfast. The idea is to have bites of jammy egg with the pasta, not to make a runny yolk sauce.

To serve, divide the pasta among plates or bowls, add a sprinkle of Parmesan. Place egg in the center. Drizzle a little extra truffle oil on top, finish with chopped parsley and red chile flakes.

Death Valley

Death Valley National Park is a land of extremes—remarkable not just for its heat (highest temperature recorded 134°F) and dryness, but for its stunning range of landscapes, history, and geology. Located on the border of California and Nevada, it’s the largest national park in the contiguous U.S., covering more than 3.4 million acres.

Dante’s View is special because it gives you a rare sense of scale—standing nearly a mile above the valley floor, you’re looking down at one of the most extreme landscapes on Earth. From the overlook, you get a sweeping, panoramic view of Badwater Basin below—282 feet below sea level—and the Panamint Mountains across the valley, which rise to over 11,000 feet. The contrast between these two extremes, seen all at once from such a high, quiet perch, makes the whole valley feel like something out of another world.

Badwater Basin holds the distinction of being the lowest point in North America at 282 feet (86 meters) below sea level.

There is water beneath the salt at Badwater Basin—though it’s not always visible. The salt flats are formed from minerals left behind after ancient lakes evaporated, and beneath the hard crust lies a layer of extremely salty groundwater.

The water is far saltier than seawater and completely undrinkable, which is how Badwater got its name: a 19th-century surveyor’s mule reportedly refused to drink from the spring, prompting the label “bad water” on early maps.

The most striking salt formations, known as salt polygons, are unique hexagonal shapes that are formed by the repeated freezing and thawing of the salt crust.

Natural Bridge in Death Valley is a short, scenic hike leading to a remarkable rock formation—an impressive arch spanning a narrow canyon carved by ancient flash floods. Towering about 35 feet above the canyon floor, the bridge stands as a reminder of how even rare desert rainstorms can dramatically shape the landscape. Surrounded by steep, rust-colored canyon walls, it offers a quiet, almost surreal glimpse into the power of erosion in one of the driest places on Earth.

The interpretive sign at Devil’s Golf Course provides insight into the area’s unique geological features. It explains that the jagged salt formations are the result of an immense area of rock salt eroded by wind and rain into sharp spires. The terrain is so incredibly serrated that “only the devil could play golf on such rough links,” a phrase originating from a 1934 National Park Service guidebook, which inspired the site’s name.

More than five million years ago, repeated volcanic eruptions blanketed the landscape, depositing ash and minerals. The volcanic minerals were chemically altered by heat and water, with variable amounts of oxygen and other introduced elements. Chemical analyses have identified a paint pot of elements: iron, aluminum, magnesium, and titanium, but no copper. Some of the colored minerals here include red hematite and green chlorite. This is truly a natural artist’s palette of color splashed across the slope.

Death Valley is a designated Gold Tier International Dark Sky Park—the highest rating for star visibility. From the terrace on the 4th floor of the Inn there’s almost no light pollution. The stars appear brighter, sharper, and more numerous than most people ever see. Absolutely breathtaking.