Radically simple garlicky pozole

This is a simple, warming, and very garlicky soup (not to be confused with the far more complex hearty green pozole discussed elsewhere). The recipe as written might provide 8ish adult servings. Aaron likes to prepare the corn in the slow cooker a few days ahead and just toss in the roasted garlic after the kernels are done cooking (or whenever he gets around to roasting the garlic). He also likes to cook an extra cup or two of hominy corn and set that aside to process into tortillas, but that's another story...

Ingredients

Soup

• 4 or so garlic cloves (raw, sliced or minced).
• 4 garlic cloves (roasted, whole). See below for roasting instructions.
• 8 or so cups of veggie broth, bean cooking liquid, corn cooking liquid, and/or some other delicious broth.
• About 3-4 cups cooked hominy (nixtamalized) corn (1-2 cups dry depending on the size of the kernels?).

Garnish (all suggestions, to taste)

• Quartered limes.
• Chopped cilantro.
• Thinly sliced purple cabbage.
• Thinly sliced or julienned radish.
• Diced avocado pieces.
• Tortilla strips or crumbled chips.
• Hot sauce!

Equipment

• Big pot.
• A little tinfoil + something to roast your garlic on/in

Steps and instructions

1. Cook some corn: Cover the dry hominy (nixtamalized corn) w a few inches of water and maybe a teaspoon or three of salt. Slice/mince about half (2 cloves?) of your garlic and add to the pot. Simmer for many hours. Add water to keep corn covered as needed. Aaron usually does this in a slow cooker on low and it can take up to 8 hours. The corn is done when it is tender, but still with a bit of chew.
2. Roast some garlic: Heat your oven to 400°f. You'll probably want to roast a whole head of garlic (just save whatever you don't put in the soup and do something else with it). Trim off any excess "paper" from the outside, then use a knife to cut off the tips of the cloves so that a little bit of all/most of the cloves is exposed (you might toss these garlic tips into your hominy or soup pot depending on when in the process you roast your garlic). Wrap your trimmed garlic in tinfoil with maybe a teaspoon of olive oil on it just to keep things lubricated and non-sticky. Put this in the oven on a pan or baking sheet (just in case things get oozy) for ~30 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the garlic cool (in the oven is usually fine and this ensures it gets very soft and sweet all the way through). Once cool enough to handle, pry off however many cloves you want in your soup.
3. Combine everything (with a little more fresh garlic): Depending on how you went about things and how far from dinner time it is, you will, at some point, want to combine your garlicky hominy with your roasted garlic, your additional broth, and your remaining cloves of freshly sliced/minced garlic in a pot and cook it all together for a bit. Best to bring it to a simmer and let it bubble away gently for at least 15 minutes.
4. Serve with garnishes!