14 hours ago, ElainaA said:I made something very much like this a few nights ago (no picture) based on a recipe in the NY Times. For cheese I used fontina and Parmesan and added a mixture of shiitake and oyster mushrooms tossed in olive oil and roasted. Otherwise, just about what you did. I found it a bit single note - Did you season your sauce much? I think I'd add some sauteed onion or perhaps chopped tomato if I do it again.
Your vegetables look lovely.
Thanks! And they were tasty too 
The Mornay was cooked with a clove, allspice and bay leaf, seasoned with salt (no pepper this time) and nutmeg. Cheese used was mainly Gruyere and Parmesan with a few bits of Cornish Cruncher. By itself it was fine, when eaten with something else, I found it not cheesy enough. When preparing the sauce for the gratin, I took some of the water from cooking the penne, slowly whisked in finely shredded cheese (almost full Bonne Maman jar of mainly cheddar of several kinds), combined it with the Mornay and found myself with extra cheesy goodness. No additional salt or seasonings were necessary for me, I just added two spoons of extra thick double cream (finished the tub I had in the fridge) because I was worried the sauce was a little too thin and would separate. It was probably fine without the cream but at least I used it up and the sauce was delicious 
I have to admit I am very partial to cheese (Gruyere and cheddars in particular) and creamy sauces so the sauce was perfect for me but I can see how someone could find it too bland in bigger dose... In that case, your suggested tweaks sound good - in fact I was debating with myself whether to bake the vegetables with the pasta or cook it separately. But I didn't want to risk it, in case the gratin turned out not well...
