Place a large pot or dutch oven on the stove over medium heat and add 4 tablespoons of butter, onion, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper
Sautee until onions become translucent (about 5 minutes)
Add cauliflower, chicken broth, and another teaspoon of salt and bring everything to a boil
Once the broth is boiling, turn the heat down to low
Cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender
While the soup is simmering, toss chopped asparagus with extra virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper, then roast in preheated oven for 20-30 minutes, until browned and fully roasted
After placing the asparagus in the oven, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan and throw in breadcrumbs
Mix breadcrumbs with melted butter and toast in pan until all the breadcrumbs are browned ever so slightly (about 5 minutes); set breadcrumbed aside until soup is finished
Once cauliflower is tender, remove soup from heat and take out the bay leaves and sprigs of thyme from pot
Using an immersion blender, blend soup until cauliflower is completely broken down and soup is left without any large chunks (if you don’t own an immersion blender, you can ladle the soup into a regular blender in batches until you’ve blended all the cauliflower, then just add it back to the pot)
After all the soup is blended, stir in heavy cream until evenly distributed (at this point you can taste soup and season accordingly to your tastes)
Now you can assemble your soup in bowl and top it with some of the toasted breadcrumbs and roasted asparagus — freeze whatever leftovers you have (of the soup) and save to reheat in the future!
