I provided the soup course, a version of a mushroom and fontina soup I used to make at the Heritage Glacier Café a few years back that features one of my favorite cheeses of all time, fontina.

Fontina is a semi-hard cow's milk cheese that has been made since the 12th century in the Aosta Valley in Italy's northwest Alps. It is now made all over northern Italy and in France, where it is called fontal. The texture is semi-firm and supple with a rich, herbaceous flavor. The young cheese is milky and lightly scented of alpine meadows. As it matures, it develops an earthy but fruity aroma with a mellow flavor of nuts and fruit. Fontina is excellent to cook with, particularly in sauces and on grilled sandwiches, because it melts wonderfully.

Roasted vegetable Piedmontese

1½ teaspoons minced garlic

1½ cups diced leek (approximately one large leek, white bottoms only)

2 cups diced carrots

4 ears of corn (approximately 2 cups), kernels removed

1 cup diced yellow onions

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups diced crimini mushrooms

1 cup dry white wine

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 sprig of fresh thyme, leaves removed from the stem

12 ounces evaporated milk or heavy cream

2 cups chicken, vegetable or miso stock

3 tablespoons corn starch

1 teaspoon salt or to taste

A few turns of fresh ground black pepper

3 cups shredded fontina cheese

Truffle oil (optional)

Directions: Put the olive oil in a large sauté pan and bring to high heat. Drop the fresh corn and carrots into the pan and sauté until the corn and carrots begin to caramelize (they will take on medium-brown spots). Reduce the heat to medium low and add the leeks, onions, garlic and the crushed red peppers. Sweat this until the starch in the leeks breaks down and they begin to fall apart.

If desired, while the leeks are sweating, roast the mushrooms in a toaster or sear them in another hot pan until they caramelize (recommended). If not roasted, add the mushrooms and sauté until soft. If roasted, dice and add to the pan.

Pour in the white wine and stir making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to pull up all of the remaining caramelized bits of food that darken the bottom of your pan. Add the stock, milk and cleaned fresh thyme. Bring to a simmer.

In a small cup, mix the cornstarch with cold water and blend until smooth. Whisk this into the soup and allow to thicken. Cool to approximately 185 degrees and fold in the fontina cheese.

Taste and salt the soup appropriately at this point. When serving, add two to three drops of truffle oil to each serving of soup. Serve with grilled or crispy breads and a hearty Chianti or Sangiovese.