Cream of Roasted Garlic Soup

I'll be the first to admit that this soup needs a bit of help in the appearance department. The color didn't come out that pretty and I accidentally let my eggs curdle in it, which didn't help the situation. Otherwise the soup tasted awesome. Seriously awesome. I ended up using 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour to thicken the soup, I need to find a better way to thicken. Either more cauliflower to add more bulk or perhaps more egg yolks. I, personally do not like plain "cream of" soups, I like to have "chunks" in my soup, so I added some sauted mushrooms, bacon and diced chicken to give the soup bite.
-Amanda

Cream of Roasted Garlic Soup

4 strips of bacon
8-10 button mushrooms
2 tbsp oil (I used coconut oil, but butter or olive oil would be fine.)
2 HEADS of garlic. Not cloves, but the entire head of garlic. You want a about a cup-cup and half of whole, peeled garlic cloves
1/2 an onion
2 stalks of celery
Enough oil (I used ghee & olive oil) to halfway cover the garlic
1.5 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp chili flakes
32 oz chicken stock (I used homemade)
16 oz water
1 package of frozen cauliflower, you can use fresh too. Make sure the frozen package lists only cauliflower as an ingredient.
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup of flour
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 chicken breast previously cooked, and diced

Peel garlic and set aside. This took me about 15 minutes to do. Cut the bacon stips into pieces and saute in a soup pot until crispy. Using a slotted spoon, remove bacon and put it in a small bowl leaving all of the bacon grease in the pot. Add chopped mushrooms. Saute until cooked through. I had to add 2 tbsp of coconut oil (or butter/ghee/olive oil) when the mushrooms got dry and started to stick. Add mushrooms to the bowl of bacon.

Place all the garlic, chopped onion and celery in the pot. Add enough oil to about halfway cover the garlic. Simmer on low heat for at least 30 minutes stirring frequently. You cannot rush this step. This is the pan roasting of the garlic. If you go to high of heat, the garlic will burn. You almost can't go too slow. When the garlic starts to turn a golden brown it is okay to continue, but the longer and slower you cook the more sweet and developed the flavor will be. Add the thyme, salt, pepper and chili flakes.

Add chicken stock, water and cauliflower to the pot and bring to a boil. When cauliflower has softened use a stick blender to puree the soup. If you don't have a stick blender you can use a regular blender being careful of the heat. In a medium bowl beat egg yolks. Add a bit of the soup to temper the eggs. Keep adding a little soup at a time until eggs are as hot as the soup. Pour the egg and soup mixture back into the pot. Put 1/4 cup of wheat flour in the now empty egg bowl. Add some soup to it and whisk until there is no lumps. Add the flour mixture back into the soup. Bring to a rolling boil.

Remove from heat, stir in heavy cream, chicken, mushrooms and bacon. Serve!