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1
In a heavy kettle cook the bacon over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until it is crisp and transfer it with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain.
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2
Add the butter and oil to the kettle and in the fat cook the onion and garlic, covered, over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 25 to 30 minutes, or until they are colored lightly and softened.
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3
Add chicken broth, wine, thyme, and bay leaf and simmer the mixture, covered, for 20 minutes.
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4
Discard the bay leaf and in a blender or food processor puree the mixture in batches.
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5
Strain the mixture into a bowl, pressing hard on the solids- this is an important step, so don't skimp on the time it might take to separate the solids; discard solids.
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6
Chill the mixture covered, for 3 to 4 hours, or until it is cold.
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7
Whisk in the heavy cream (I use 1/2 and 1/2), creme fraiche (I use softened cream cheese), lemon juice, Tabasco, nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste- I used a stick blender to get the milk and cheese smooth- and serve the soup in chilled bowls, sprinkle with the bacon, croutons, and scallion.
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8
Notes: The texture of this came out very much like tomato soup- at first, after doing the puree in the food processor, I considered just putting the whole mess into the soup, because when I put the puree into the strainer the drip of liquid was slow; but I took about 15 minutes with a spatula, moving the puree around and pressing it through the strainer and scraping it off the bottom, and sure enough, eventually I had most of it through and what came out into the bowl (and scraped off the bottom of the strainer) was quite a different texture than what I would have gotten otherwise; I ended up with about 4 cups of liquid (also containing*very* fine puree) and about a 1/2 cup of solids.
