For Soup

1. In heavy soup pan or Dutch oven, bring 6 cups water to a boil. Chop onion and add ½ cup onion to boiling water. Add bay leaf and turkey leg. Reduce heat to a slow simmer. Cover and cook 1 hour.
2. While turkey broth is cooking, wash and coarsely chop mushrooms into pieces.
3. Crumble and brown breakfast sausage in a large skillet. When sausage begins to brown, remove from pan. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of sausage grease from sauté pan. Add remaining half of the onion to the pan. Peel and thinly slice garlic. Add garlic, mushrooms, herbs, and spices, and whole sprig of rosemary to the sauteing onions. Saute until onions are translucent and mushrooms are tender. Add vegetables and rosemary to the soup pot.
4. De-glaze sauté pan with dry vermouth or dry white wine and scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. These add flavor to the soup. (I do not use a non-stick pan for this sauté, because we want to build up a browned surface on the bottom of the pan, called fond, but if that’s all you have, it will be fine.)
5. When the turkey leg has finished simmering, remove leg from soup pan. You now have a rich smoked turkey stock. Add the browned meat mixture to the soup pot along with sautéed vegetables and herbs. Add chicken stock and bring soup to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and allow soup to simmer about 20 minutes. Add pumpkin puree (this is canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling). Stir to combine. Cover and let simmer an additional 20 minutes.
6. Add cream and serve.
7. Ladle cooked soup into bowls and garnish with Parmesan, crumbled bacon and toasted pumpkin seeds.

For Optional Garnish

1. Chop bacon and fry in small sauté pan until crisp. Drain and reserve for soup.
2. Shave or grate Parmesan and reserve.
3. Add a sprinkling of toasted pumpkin seeds and enjoy! It’s Halloween in a bowl, perfect for that pre-trick-or-treating meal!