Cavatelli

Frozen cavatelli is better than dried. Since this shape is thick and doughy, the dried version tends to get overcooked on the outside before it's done inside. If you can't find cavatelli in the freezer section of your grocery store, a chunky dried pasta such as rigatoni will also be excellent here. Use the same quantity.

The perfect match for this creamy cavatelli-and-mussels dish: Muscadet, a coastal wine that's superb with shellfish.

Broccoli rabe rarely makes it into the oven; most cooks saute or braise it instead. But roasting brings out its sweetness even more. Michael Natkin uses the smart technique for a fast pasta with cavatelli, smoked paprika and the Tunisian chile paste harissa.

"This pasta," Mario Batali says, "always propels me into fall." 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," Batali says.

A quick tomato sauce dresses chewy cavatelli, crisp bacon, and peppery arugula. Be sure to add the arugula at the last minute; if it actually cooks, it may turn bitter.

At Casa Tua, chef Sergio Sigala turns out homemade cavatelli with a professional-style pasta machine. Since making it by hand is time consuming, we substituted fresh or frozen store-bought pasta.

"I created this recipe for my father-in-law, who is a big hunter," Symon says. "I'm always looking for ways to cook up his fantastic venison in the fall and winter." In place of the traditional Bolognese combination of beef, veal and pork, the venison gives this lush sauce a great gamey flavor.

Confited tuna and bagna cauda provide a briny foil to the bitter broccoli rabe in this high-end take on tuna casserole from chef Adam Eaton’s Saint Dinette restaurant in St. Paul.