In autumn, orange goes with everything

Few things herald fall's arrival quite as colorfully as the fun, funky looking, and brilliant orange pumpkin. And few vegetables are as versatile as this variety of winter squash. Pumpkin has an amiable chameleonic quality: Wherever it's used in cooking -- soups, sauces, stews, pasta fillings, pickles, pies, muffins, and more -- the mellow but characterful pumpkin makes friends with many herbs and spices. Those include the traditional cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove; aromatic herbs such as sage, thyme, and marjoram; and avant-garde pairings like spearmint.

It's not just the flesh of the orange orb that's used, but the seeds too, and the hollowed-out shell makes a perfect serving container.

Pumpkin might not be as popular in Avignon, France, where Olivier Rigaud hails from, but the Brasserie Jo chef de cuisine marvels at the vegetable's versatility. He has offered an entire pumpkin menu, featuring a pumpkin and black walnut pizza-style tarte flambee, a watercress salad in a crunchy toasted-pumpkin-seed vinaigrette, and a creamy pumpkin soup enriched with bleu d'Auvergne cheese -- which is served in a pumpkin shell. Among the entrees were pan-seared lemon sole with a pumpkin-Riesling cream sauce and a pumpkin-seed-crusted lamb noisette with a luscious ratatouille in which pumpkin replaces eggplant.

The perfect finis? A pumpkin creme brulee, of course, flecked with finely diced candied pumpkin. Rigaud's aim is for classic, clean tastes, without too many spices, allowing the pumpkin to shine.

At Bomboa restaurant in the Back Bay, roasted pureed pumpkin is mixed with Parmesan and Asiago for a traditional Italian ravioli stuffing, and the seeds are turned into crisp pumpkin brittle to accompany profiteroles. Another Back Bay spot, L'Espalier, uses pumpkin in a sweet, chutney-like version of the turmeric-spiced piccalilli and pairs it with hard cheeses such as Mahon in the cheese course. At Olives, in Charlestown, spicy yellow fin tuna sashimi sits on a fluffy sugar pumpkin mousse and is paired with two oils: spearmint and a contrasting smoky toasted pumpkin seed.

There are several variously colored varieties of pumpkins that offer different tastes and textures. Au Bon Pain executive chef Thomas John prefers Japanese pumpkin, or kabocha, for pumpkin soup. The variety is less fibrous, with a more sweet-potato taste. Diced pumpkin is simmered in a light vegetable broth and delicately seasoned with cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. Then it is pureed and enriched with cream, resulting in a fragrant, golden bowl.

In the fall at Zocalo Cocina Mexicana in Brighton and Arlington, chef and owner Ricardo Ramos often makes his legumbres en pipian (vegetables in pumpkin-seed sauce) with pumpkin meat instead of squash. This simple, rustic dish from Mexico's Oaxaca region also includes piquant pickled cactus, but if that's hard to find, use okra. The real star here, though, is the granular, aromatic, green pumpkin seed sauce, which includes thyme and marjoram. It's simple to make: Just whir in the blender. (Leftover sauce can be refrigerated for several weeks.) At Zocalo the stew is served with refried rice and black beans.

Of course, pumpkin is synonymous with sweet Thanksgiving pies. At the Boston-based desserterie Finale, executive pastry chef Nicole Coady makes pumpkin cheesecakes, with a heady blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. The pumpkin puree makes a lighter, fluffier cream cheese mixture.

Venezuelan-born Junior Portal, chef of Betty's Wok and Noodle on Huntington Avenue, recently added a spicy pumpkin quesillo, which is a fall variation on the flan dessert often made by his grandmother. Portal won't divulge her recipe, but he says he grinds his own fresh spices and includes a good dose of nutmeg and green cardamom pods. In Venezuela, the variety of pumpkin used is auyama, a tropical species often used in soups, stews , and desserts. But, given the popularity of the new quesillo on his menu, Portal is using local sugar pumpkins, which transform the pale yellow custard into a warm brown color that's enhanced by a glistening caramel sauce.