Pasta

Hearty ingredients load this quick Italian dinner with spicy, cheesy flavor.

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.

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

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

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

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.