Rigatoni

The genius of Food & Wine test kitchen deputy editor Justin Chapple’s pasta recipe is the contrast of flavors—creamy, meaty, nicely bitter and tangy.

Tubes of rigatoni hold the tomato sauce, giving you a burst of creamy flavor with every bite. Use either hot or mild Italian sausage here, depending on your preference.

At Pasquale Jones in Manhattan, chefs Ryan Hardy and Tim Caspare team up to make dishes like this sumptuous baked pasta. Key to it is the tender milk-braised pork and its cooking liquid, which is pureed to form the sauce for the rigatoni. They pair this rich pasta with 2013 Circa Saint-Joseph from J.L. Chave Selctions.

Marc Vetri uses oversize paccherri for this seafood pasta, but rigatoni works just as well with the juicy tomato sauce and fish.

A quick take on spinach and ricotta cannelloni, this baked pasta is fast because there's nothing to stuff. The filling is simply tossed with cooked rigatoni that's then topped with fontina and baked to a golden brown

Three ingredients form the foundation of Creole and Acadian cookery--onion, celery, and green bell pepper. Our dish starts with this trio and is enhanced by garlic, tomatoes, and the deliciously hot andouille sausage.

Chef Nabil Hassed of Rome's Salumeria Roscioli puts his own spin on gricia, the classic Roman pasta made with guanciale (cured pork jowl) and pecorino cheese. Instead of leaving the guanciale soft, he crisps it up, then tops the dish with different kinds of black pepper, including fragrant Malaysian Sarawak.

Andrew Zimmern makes his velvety pasta sauce—a classic Italian combination of sweet squash and veal—even more luscious with a touch of cream.

Cooking the rigatoni twice--first in boiling water and then in the red pepper stewing liquid--infuses it with sweet and rich pepper flavor.

Mario Batali doesn't mess around with his Amatriciana, which is perfectly spicy and porky, with plenty of rich tomato flavor.

Unlike most pasta dishes, which are best served immediately, this baked rigatoni is perfect for preparing ahead and heating just before serving. To make this recipe for 12, double it and bake it in two 9-by-13-inch baking dishes.

Melissa Rubel Jacobson uses a few great shortcuts to make her creamy baked pasta. She starts by boiling the cauliflower and rigatoni together in one pot. Then, for a quick and supercrispy topping, she sprinkles the dish with Parmigiano-panko crumbs and broils it. The topping browns perfectly in only two minutes.

This deeply flavored ragu would make a delicious dish just tossed with pasta, but paired with sweet, fresh ricotta, it's outstanding. Sheep's milk ricotta from the countryside outside Rome can be mail-ordered from Buonitalia in New York City's Chelsea Market (212-633-9090).

Instead of using tomato sauce, Hugh Acheson makes his version of baked ziti with intensely sweet roasted tomatoes.

Sausage, escarole, and white beans join chunky rigatoni in a garlicky broth slightly thickened with Parmesan. Don't stir too much after adding the beans, or they'll break up.

Chef Marc Meyer's first book, Brunch, offers outrageously good recipes from his first Manhattan restaurant, Five Points. This quick and healthy pasta with chickpeas in a piquant lemon-Parmesan cheese sauce epitomizes his unfussy, ingredient-centric style.

Chef Marco Canora likes spelt pasta, which is made with an ancient strain of wheat, but any good-quality whole-wheat rigatoni will work. Just check the ingredient list to make sure it's whole grain and doesn't contain sugar, colorings or other additives. Canora also recommends buying livers from pastured chickens because they're more nutritious than those from factory-farmed birds.

When I moved to Minnesota in the 1990s, I was in treatment for chemical dependency and alcoholism. After six months, I got out and eventually found a job washing dishes and busing tables at a French restaurant in the Twin Cities called Café Un Deux Trois. It was two weeks old and already coming off the rails. Packed to the gills, it was the biggest thing to hit Minnesota since sliced bread. Literally. The owners would fly in from New York and swear at the customers (not very Minnesota Nice!), and the kitchen was run by an earnest and talented young chef hot off a few years spent in NYC cooking with David Bouley. One day a line cook called in sick, and since I had been watching his station for a few days from the vantage point of the dish room and the busers’ station, I thought I could put out his food. I did, got a job as a line cook immediately and within a few weeks was asked by the owners to take over the kitchen. I brought in my own team; then Michael, the restaurant manager, bought out the NYC crew (thanks Georges, Gerard and Billy!); and for the next five years, we had a huge hit on our hands. It was restaurant heaven. The only dish that survived the first menu changeover was this amazing asparagus pasta, which the old chef swore he got from Bouley. While that may or may not be true, if it’s not Bouley’s, it should have been—it’s that delicious.—Andrew Zimmern

Making pesto with kale instead of basil isn't just healthier, it's unexpectedly delicious. And according to the dish's creator, chef Chris Cosentino, it's a simple way to get kids to eat kale.

The Good News Tossed with sweet acorn squash and roasted tomatoes, this whole wheat pasta from Eric Chopin is packed with fiber and vitamins A and C. Olives and toasted pine nuts add heart-healthy fats.

Chef Tyler Florence of Wayfare Tavern in San Francisco combines two distinct Italian favorites into a single genius dish: pasta with clams and sausage with broccoli rabe. Instead of just sauteing the rabe with the sausage, he purees it to create a quick, pleasantly bitter pasta sauce.