Editors' Favorite Pasta

Store-bought dried orecchiette gets tossed with a bolognese sauce made with just ham and ground chuck. Finishing the dish with chestnuts (leaving out the porcini and squash) adds a delicious and unexpected touch.

Andrew Carmellini cooks homemade gnocchi in his own intense mushroom stock, then serves them with porcini butter (blended with garlic, herbs and Parmesan) and white-truffle shavings. In the easy way, store-bought gnocchi and chicken stock fill in for the homemade kinds. The topping: Parmesan cheese and truffle oil.

Toss store-bought orecchiette with arugula and chard (both are tastier than spinach) and make the sauce with scallions instead of green garlic, which can be hard to find.

The shredded zucchini cooks along with the farfalle in this tangy pasta from Johanne Killeen and George Germon.

In matching spicy sausage with a creamy mustard sauce and fragrant basil, British cookbook author Nigel Slater created a quick pasta supper with warm, mildly spicy flavors.

F&W's Grace Parisi makes brilliant use of Brie here. After removing the rind from the cheese, she combines it with the pasta cooking water to make a rich, silky sauce for the fettuccine.

You can substitute pumpkin or hubbard squash—whichever looks more beautiful at your market—for the butternut. "Cook the squash until it's soft but not falling apart—you don't want al dente squash, but you don't want mush either," says Mario Batali.

Chef Michael Romano tops homemade frascatelli, a dense spaetzle-like pasta, with a combination of pancetta, cheese and cream.

Tame the hot chile peppers and garlic in this dish with a refreshingly fruity off-dry Riesling.