Pancetta-Wrapped Scallions

• Servings: 4.

This recipe is based upon one in Arthur Schwartz's The Southern Italian Table that uses pounded pieces of boneless pork wrapped around spring onions.  This version can be made with scallions, which are much easier to find and still very tasty.

You can also use regular bacon but because bacon is smoked, it will be saltier and will dominate the scallion's flavor that becomes sweet and mild when cooked.  If it happens to be the time of year when you can find spring onions or spring garlic, by all means use that instead of scallions.

Pancetta is most easily found shaped into a round roll.  But La Quercia, an excellent Iowa-based pork producer, makes one that is in the shape of slab bacon and is cut in the familiar bacon-like long slices.  Not only is La Quercia's pancetta superbly flavored, its shape makes it easier to wrap around the scallions.  You can look for La Quercia's pancetta at good charcuteries.

This dish makes a memorable amuse bouche.

Ingredients

• 1/3 pound sliced pancetta, preferably slab slices by LaQuercia
• 12 scallions, spring onions, spring garlic, or ramps, trimmed and cleaned

Directions

1. Bring the pancetta to room temperature so that it is easier to manipulate without breaking.
2. Prepare the scallions by cutting off the root tip and also much of the green stem, leaving about 4 inches of green so that each cleaned and trimmed scallion is about 6 or 7 inches long.
3. Starting at the root end, wrap each scallion in a single length of pancetta; if you're using round pancetta, wrap it around the scallion, covering more of the bottom of the scallion and opting to leave more of the green end exposed.
4. Place the wrapped scallions on a rimmed sheet pan.
5. Turn on your stove's broiler and bring it to heat.
6. Broil the wrapped scallions for 5 minutes.
7. Turn each of them and broil for an additional 1 to 2 minutes, depending on the power of your broiler.
8. When the pancetta has cooked on both sides and the scallions have softened (it takes the same time to do both), remove and serve immediately.
9. Encourage your guests to eat with their fingers.