Pancetta Crisps

I had some folks over for dinner last night and served a yummy Italian themed meal that started with the simplest appetizer.

Lay strips of pancetta (Italian bacon) on a cookie sheet and bake at 450 until crisp (careful not to go longer than 12 minutes as at this temperature the oil will begin to smoke in a most unfortunate manner.)

Remove the crispy rounds and top with a drop of goat cheese and a sliver of ripe pear.

Add a sprig of thyme to garnish.

EAT UP!

Hints:

• leave the cheese out to warm up to room temperature, it will make scooping easier
• slice the pears thin and if you can't slice as you garnish, use a citrus fruit juice (lemon) to prevent oxidation of the pear meat. This does change the flavor of the pear so I chose to deal with the 'browning'.
• slice the pancetta a little thicker than paper thin, or if using the pre-sliced deli kind use two slices per round.

Adapted from epicurious.com