Bacon Fat Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Crispy Garlic and Thyme

• 12 oz brussels sprouts
• ½-1 tablespoon bacon fat
• 3 sprigs of thyme minced
• 3-4 cloves garlic sliced thinly

salt and pepper to taste

optional: crushed walnuts as garnishing

1. 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. 2. Take Brussels sprouts and cut bottom off and remove loose leaves.
3. 3. Once this is done with each Brussels sprout cut each of them in half and place them in a medium sized baking dish.
4. 4. Add garlic, thyme and bacon fat and toss until thoroughly coated with oil and other ingredients are well dispersed into the mixture.
5. 5. Place baking dish in oven for 20-25 minutes shaking about 15 minutes in or until they begin to get crispy around the edges and begin to brown nicely.
6. 6. Serve as a side for just about any dish.
7. 1. Next time you cook bacon (hopefully soon) cook it normally in the skillet and dont drain the fat.
8. 2. Keep adding bacon to the pan after each piece is done until you reach a fair amount of fat in the bottom of the pan. (You dont want to let the bacon swim in it as your cooking or else it wont cook properly so you may want to start straining it early)
9. 3. Once you reach a fair amount of fat in the pan grab a fine mesh strainer and strain the bacon fat into a storeable glass container or heat resistant plastic container (remember the bacon fat is very hot right now and will melt plastic)
10. 4. Store in the fridge. If you strain it well and there aren't any bits of bacon in the rendered bacon fat you should be able to store it for a while. A few months in fact. Just go by nose. If it smells bad after a few months toss it and make some fresh. The only down side is that the longer it sits in there the more the flavor depth begins to go down.