Everyday Cooking Adventures' Game Day Roasted Potatoes with Pancetta & Scallion

Last night, we had a small dinner party for a couple of friends who live in town here. Since it was a game day–go Niners!-I wanted to make a somewhat “manly” side dish. I came up with this recipe based on what I had in my refrigerator. I chose the Make Ahead version of this recipe that I have included here. I prepared the pancetta and scallion topping a couple hours before our friends came over and prepared a baking sheet of the potatoes about an hour in advance and let it sit in the cold oven.

Ready for the oven ©EverydayCookingAdventures 2013

After we’d had some homemade guacamole and cheese and crackers for appetizers, I heated the oven, baked the potatoes, and added the pre-cooked topping at the last couple minutes of baking just to warm it up.

©EverydayCookingAdventures 2013

The potatoes came out looking nicely browned and the topping added a little fancier turn to an otherwise basic roast potato recipe. All four of us enjoyed the dish and it paired perfectly with my the barbecued Rachael Ray’s Marinated Grilled Flank Steak and Ina Garten’s Roasted Broccoli. Here’s my fancy game day roasted potatoes:

Roasted Potatoes with Pancetta & Scallion ©EverydayCookingAdventures 2013

Roasted Potatoes with Pancetta & Scallion

By: Everyday Cooking Adventures, 2013

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

5 medium-size red or Yukon gold potatoes, unpeeled, quartered and then halved again if too large
1 tbsp olive oil
salt & fresh ground pepper
1 green onion/scallion, stalk and bulb sliced thin
6-8 pieces of pancetta or prosciutto, torn into bite-size pieces

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF. Cover a baking sheet with non-stick foil (or grease the foil with cooking spray). Add the potatoes to the pan, peel side facing down, and drizzle with 1/2 tbsp of the olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and fresh ground black pepper. Place in middle of oven and bake for 30 minutes.

2. After about 20 minutes of baking, prepare the topping on the stovetop. In a medium frying pan, warm 1/2 tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the sliced scallion and saute for 2-3 minutes.

3. Add the pancetta or prosciutto pieces to the pan and cook them, stirring occasionally to avoid sticking, for 8-10 minutes until the green onion is softened and the pancetta is starting to get crispy.

4. Remove potatoes from the oven, add the pancetta/scallion topping and serve immediately. Any leftovers can be reheated in the oven the next day.

MAKE AHEAD TIP: You can prepare the baking sheet with the potatoes drizzled in olive oil ahead of time. And you can make the pancetta/scallion topping ahead of time, seal it in a Ziploc or tupperware, and refrigerate until serving time. When ready to bake, put the potatoes in the oven to bake and scatter the topping on top to warm up for the last 5 minutes of baking time.