Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Caramelized Garlic

Instructions

1. Take the leaves off of the Brussels sprouts.
2. This process is a little funky. The goal is to get as many leaves as possible. I use a paring knife and keep cutting into the core of the Brussels sprout and pulling off leaves. There comes a point where you are left with a core and that’s ok. Throw the small core into your pile of leaves for frying.
3. In a sauté pan, brown the bacon. Set aside.
4. In the same pan, drain off the most of the bacon fat, leaving a tablespoon or two. Add garlic and onion. Sauté under medium heat until nicely caramelized.
5. Add the bacon back, mix, then set aside off of the heat.
6. Put Brussels sprout leaves into a large plastic bag. Add flour and shake to roughly coat.
7. In a large frying pan, heat the canola oil until it almost smokes.
8. Separate Brussels sprout leaves into two batches. Fry each batch separately until the leaves begin to brown. Take them out of the frying pan and set them on a paper towel to drain off the excess oil.
9. When both batches of Brussels sprout leaves have been fried and drained, place them on a cooking sheet lined with aluminum foil and set in the oven at 200° to be kept warm.
10. Just before serving, combine Brussels sprout leaves with the garlic/onion/bacon mixture.
11. Serve with Mustard Dill Sauce (see below).

Mustard Dill SauceCombine all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade.

1. Process until it achieves the thickness of a thin mayonnaise.
2. Put into a covered bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
3. Note: Sauce can be made 2 days in advance.