Potato Leek Soup

A while back I made this soup and posted it to my social networking profile so that I wouldn't forget it. I'm now moving it over here for others to enjoy.

6 yukon gold potatoes, washed and cubed
1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
1/4 cup dried porcini mushrooms
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 large leek, dark green part and roots removed, chopped fine and rinsed
1/3 c celery, washed and chopped
6 cups chopped kale, washed
2 tsp chicken flavor better than bouillon
salt and pepper to taste

In a large soup pot, put potatoes and garlic clove. Cover generously with water and put over high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook until potatoes are tender. Drain, reserving the liquid.
While potatoes are boiling, put porcini mushrooms in a 2 cup measuring cup and fill with hot water. Let soak. When tender, remove porcini mushrooms and dice. Reserve the liquid.
Once potatoes are draining, return soup pot to the stove and put over medium heat. Add olive oil and butter. When butter is melted, add leek and celery and cook until very tender. Add porcini mushrooms and kale and cook until kale is wilted but still bright green.
Return potatoes to the pot, pour in reserved mushroom liquid. Then add reserved potato liquid. You want to cover generously with liquid, so you may need to add additional water. Add bouillon, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Cook for a few minutes, then remove from the heat. Using an immersion blender, very carefully blend the soup until smooth (depending on how finely you chopped the leeks, celery and kale, this might take a while). Once blended, return to heat and bring to temperature desired for serving.

And an alternate option:

Alteration: Replace porcini mushrooms with 3 cups fresh cremini mushrooms, chopped. Sautee mushrooms with leek and celery. One downside is that the mushrooms float and take a while to blend. It might be a good idea to process with an immersion blender before adding liquid and potatoes back to the pot (or with only a small amount of liquid). When using cremini mushrooms, add extra water to replace mushroom liquid.