Favorite Pasta

This hearty pasta dish is studded with chunks of Italian sausage and mixed with a quick garlic-infused tomato sauce. It's then topped with dollops of fresh ricotta and a sprinkling of both mozzarella and Parmigiano-Reggiano, which form a cheesy layer as the pasta bakes.

F&W's Melissa Rubel Jacobson uses tomatoes in three forms—fresh, sun-dried and paste—for her thick and creamy, deeply tomatoey sauce.

The shredded zucchini cooks along with the farfalle in this tangy pasta from Johanne Killeen and George Germon of Al Forno restaurant in Providence.

Jean-Georges Vongerichten is so fond of his wife Marja's ultrarich mac and cheese that it appears on the menu at the Mercer Kitchen, one of his New York restaurants. Marja makes the dish with four cheeses, from creamy Monterey Jack to extra-sharp cheddar. The most unusual touch: the cubes of cream cheese that melt on top.

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, perfect for a cool fall or winter evening.

Chef Richard Reddington fills homemade ravioli with ricotta, mascarpone, arugula, spinach and Swiss chard, then serves them in a green garlic-and-white wine sauce. In the easy way, 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.

In Italian cuisine, a sugo is a gravy or sauce. Here, Ethan Stowell prepares a pork sugo by braising pork shoulder until it almost falls apart, shredding it in a food processor and mixing it with a red-wine-and-tomato sauce; then he bakes it with orecchiette under a topping of Parmigiano cheese until crispy.

Chef Cindy Pawlcyn folds penne with asparagus and sweet English peas, then adds a little cream for richness.