Pasta

Gnocchi à l'Alsacienne In the winter, we serve gnocchi with squash and sage crisped in brown butter, an ever-satisfying combination that also works well with just about any pasta. In this dish, the gnocchi are browned in butter, then tossed with sautéed mushrooms and squash and returned to the pan; lemon is added at the end to complete what becomes a classic brown butter sauce, used throughout bistro cooking.

It's worth seeking out fresh cheese ravioli. They will make this meal special.

Here's a hearty vegetable soup that doesn't take as long to make as the classic but is much better than what you'll find in a can.

Feel free to experiment with this recipe—a different sausage or cheese may make it your new no-hassle dinner standby.

Make this filling ahead of time; it freezes well and you'll have enough to create four batches of Alan Tardi's delicate <epi:recipe link="" id="235965">agnolotti</epi:recipe>.

This recipe for pasta dough includes additional egg yolks, which give it a slightly richer flavor and a yellowish hue. Using olive oil produces a softer dough that's perfect for making a variety of pastas.

If available, add the lobsters' coral pink roe to the sauce — it makes this dish even more luxurious.

This classic Italian dish is said to have been created in the 1800s after the opening night of Bellini's opera Norma.

Truffles add luxurious appeal, but the ravioli are fantastic without them.

To make this dish even more decadent, add cooked chopped pancetta or cooked and crumbled smoked bacon.

Soft 00 flour (available at Italian markets) produces a more tender pasta, but all purpose flour works well, too.

Taleggio is an Italian semisoft cheese. Its mildly piquant flavor sharpens with age and pairs especially well with the black truffles and prosciutto in this dish. Taleggio stands up to big Italian wines, like Barolo and Barbaresco.

If you haven't thought of duck as comfort food before, this will change your mind. Pasta, confit duck, and Savoy cabbage become the perfect cool-weather dinner—rich and succulent without seeming heavy. If you haven't had confit duck before, trust us: It's just as good as you would imagine duck cooked in rendered fat would be.

Delicious when served hot, this pasta dish is made for the culinarily creative—feel free to use your favorite mushrooms for a recipe all your own.