Cooking with Emily: Penne with Three Cheeses

I'm afraid my little chef's tastes have grown expensive.  Expansive too, or getting there, anyway.  Parents with fussy eaters, get them cooking, they may be more willing to try things they would have turned their noses up at before.  I was myself a picky eater, although my self imposed rules only made sense to me, and all of my children were to some degree fussy too...and we have all (mostly) out grown it.  In the past Emily, while loving any dish with cheese in it or on it, has turned her nose up at most cheeses served simply on a cheese plate.  Cheese, sausage & crackers are, on occasion served as supper here, or as a part of supper that is just soup.  Tuesday night supper is our name for this meal, regardless of the night it is served (or if it makes an appearance as lunch)
In any case, Sunday night I set Emily to deciding what she was making for supper on Monday.  She unearthed the same cookbook she used last week and started reading.  We have had a few cooler days after several that were very warm, so she asked about using the oven, since, as a rule I opt to not use it for fear of heating up an already warm house through most of the summer months.  Deciding it would be okay to bake something she settled on this recipe.  It did call for porcini mushrooms, but neither of us care for them, so I determined we could alter the recipe and do without them.  But three cheeses, none of which were the staple Cheddar, meant this would be a more pricey dish.
I did a little quick research since I had never seen Fontina in our local store to see what it might be compared to, and what might make an adequate substitute.  Gouda was suggested, a lovely mild cheese I enjoy, so we wouldn't have anything wasted.  I indulged in a small block of dill Havarti too, just because, along with the required ricotta and Parmensan (I thought for this dish we would grate some fresh ourselves rather than use the jarred stuff I usually have in the fridge)  She sampled all of the cheese as I diced and grated, except for the ricotta, and decided she like them all.  A huge leap forward from Cheddar.
While Emily was off swimming I prepared a bowl of fresh snow peas from the farmer's market and cut the small bison tenderloin I had thawed into cubes for skewers,  Once she arrived home I continued acting as sous chef to speed her along, mincing an onion, shredding and cubing cheeses.
She started water boiling to cook her pasta and melted butter to brown the onion.  We had some debate over the next steps, as I had altered the recipe to accommodate the omission of dried porcini mushrooms in my head, but not on paper for her.  Once she understood, she sprinkled flour over the onions, whisking in chicken stock and milk, nutmeg and salt & pepper.  I cut some fresh thyme in the garden and showed her how to remove the leaves from the stalks, telling her to add the fresh herbs later in the recipe so as not to overcook them and spoil the flavours.  Next she stirred in the cooked pasta and the cheeses.  She balked when I told her to pour the pasta into the sauce, not the sauce over the pasta, as the recipe indicated, but I explained the sauce was in the larger pot, so it would be easier to stir.
Once the sauce had thickened slightly, and we added a little more pasta, quickly cooked, as the initial batch of noodle looked scant, I helped her pour the mixture into a baking dish.  We topped it with a little shredded Asiago cheese, making this now a Four Cheese Penne, and Emily put it in the oven to bake for 30 minutes, while I steamed the peas and put the bison skewers on the barbecue.
The pasta was lovely; rich and creamy, the snow peas crisp and green, a nice foil for the richness of the pasta.  The bison was done miraculously perfectly too as I discovered my propane had run out during the cooking.

 Penne With Three Cheeses

1 package penne rigate or ziti pasta (16 oz/3 cups)   3 tablespoons flour

1 cup water*                                                             2 1/2 cups milk

1 cup dried porcini mushrooms                                1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 tablespoons butter                                                   salt & pepper

1 onion, finely chopped                                            4 ounces Fontina  cheese, cubed**

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped                   1 cup ricotta cheese

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta for 2 minutes less than the package directs, drain and set aside

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375F.  In a microwave safe measuring cup heat water  1 1/2 -2 minutes, until boiling.  Stir in mushrooms, let stand 15 minutes.  With a slotted spoon remove mushrooms, rinse and chop.  Set aside, reserving liquid after straining.

Melt butter over medium heat in a large sauce pan.  Add onion and cook until tender & lightly browned, 8-9 minutes.  Stir in porcini and thyme.  Sprinkle with flour, cook 1 minute.  Whisk in milk, mushroom liquid, salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Heat to boiling, cook 2-3 minutes until thickened slightly, stirring frequently.

Add sauce to pasta, stir in Fontina, ricotta and 1/2 cup Parmesan.  Spoon into a 3 quart casserol, sprinkle with remaining Parmesan***.  Bake 30 minutes, until heated through and top is golden

*Because we omitted the mushrooms we substituted 3/4 cup of chicken stock instead

**Fontina was not available in our local grocery, we substituted Gouda instead (Provolone and Gruyere would also work)

*** Emily mis-read the recipe and stirred the full cup of Parmesan into the sauce.  It was fine, and we topped the dish with Asiago instead