Before beginning, make sure spinach is properly drained and thawed. I find it works best to thaw the spinach in a perforated hotel pan that's nested in a much deeper hotel pan to catch the drainage. (i.e. a 2in perf hotel pan inside of a 6in hotel)

Start by making the roux base. Put butter in a pot large enough to contain full completed soup volume (one times batch is 3 gallons). Place pot on medium heat and when the butter is fully melted and stops bubbling, stir in the flour. Cook the flour until it begins to brown slightly and begins smelling nutty (this is the blonde roux phase). At this point, toss in the shallots and garlic, stirring continuously.  After about 2 minutes, slowly pour in the vegetable broth, whisking vigorously so no clumps form. Bring broth to a boil and reduce heat. Simmering for 5 minutes.  Add in the cream, salt, pepper, nutmeg, paprika and lemon zest.  Remove from heat.

One last time, squeeze out the spinach to dry out even more. Add the spinach to the soup and puree with immersion blender until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed, notating your changes for future batches. Transfer to 4 in deep hotel pans to cool, making sure to only fill them half way (or 2 inches deep).  I like to use 4in hotels half full to avoid sloshing as you move the speed rack through the kitchen to the walk-in.  

Once below 41 degrees, transfer into 2gal Cambro containers, label, date and seal with seal-tight lids.  Soup is ready to send to the cafe.

Onsite, garnish soup with a halved beet pickled egg.