Okay. This recipe is just going to wear you out just reading it. But you can do it in steps, and it gets easier every time you make it. The thing is, it is the best dish for a special dinner, and sometimes I make parts of it on their own. It is from one of Julia Child's cookbooks "Julia Child & Company" or "Julia Child & More Company."

I especially recommend the Rice and Onion Soubise as a side dish on its own. It is so very easy to make, it's elegant and different, and your guests will think you slaved.

Turkey Orloff

Rice and Onion Soubise:
2 quarts rapidly boiling salted water
1/4 cup plain raw rice
Salt
1 pound (5 to 6) medium size onions
4 tablespoons butter
1 egg plus 2 egg yolks

Mushroom Duxelles
1/2 pound (3 to 3 1/2 cups) fresh mushrooms
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon fragrant dried tarragon
Salt
Pepper

12 or more turkey breast slices, 3/8 inch (or chicken breasts or thighs)
5 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoons butter

Gratinee:
4 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons flour
3 cups hot turkey stock
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1 cup coarsely grated mozzarella cheese

Rice and Onion Soubise:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Drop the rice into the rapidly boiling water and boil uncovered for exactly 5 minutes; drain immediately and reserve.

Peel and chop the onions in the food processor: pre-chop roughly, then process 1 1/2 cups at a time, using metal blade and switching machine on and off 3 or 4 times to chop into 3/8 inch morsels.

Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a 6 to 8 cup Pyrex casserole dish with a lid. Stir in the rice, salt, and onions, mixing well to coat with the butter. Cover the dish and bake in middle level of oven for about 1 hour, stirring up once or twice, until rice is completely tender and beginning to turn a golden yellow. When rice is done, and still warm, beat in the egg; taste carefully and correct seasoning.

Mushroom Duxelles:
Trim and wash the mushrooms. For the food processor, first rough chop by hand into 1 inch chunks, then process into 1/8-inch pieces, pulsing on and off. Mince the parsley in the machine afterward. By handfuls, either twist mushrooms hard in the corner of a towel or squeeze through a potato ricer to extract as much of their juices as possible. Sauté the mushrooms in 2 tablespoons butter in a medium size frying pan at moderately high heat, stirring and tossing until mushroom pieces begin to separate from each other: 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in the tarragon and parsley; season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir half the mixture into the cooked rice and onion soubise; reserve the rest. May be cooked in advance and frozen.

Turkey Scallopini:
Pound 3/8 inch turkey breast slices between 2 sheets of wax paper, with a rubber hammer, a rolling pin, or the side of a bottle, to expand them about double, and thin down by half. Cover and refrigerate until ready to sauté. Salt and pepper the slices lightly, dredge in flour, and shake off excess, sauté for about a minute on each side in 1 tablespoon of the oil and 2 tablespoons butter (more if needed), just to stiffen them and barely cook through. Set aside on a plate as you finish them.

Gratinée Sauce:
Melt 4 tablespoons butter over moderate heat in a heavy bottom 2 quart saucepan. Blend in 5 tablespoons flour, and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon until flour and butter foam and froth together for 2 minutes without turning more than a golden yellow. Remove from heat and pour in 2 cups hot turkey stock and blend vigorously with a wire whip. Return to heat, stirring slowly with wire whip to reach all over bottom, corner and side of pan, and boil slowly for 2 minutes. Taste and correct seasoning. Sauce should be thick enough to coat a wooden spoon nicely. Beat in more stock by droplets if the sauce is too thick.

Purée egg yolks with cottage cheese in food processor or blender. By dribbles, beat the hot sauce into the egg yolk and cheese mixture.

Assembling the Dish:

Choose a 10 by 14 by 2 inch dish. Butter the inside. Spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom. Make a neat, slightly overlapping pattern of the turkey slices down the center of the dish, spreading each, as you go, with the soubise. Spoon remaining mushroom duxelles down the sides. Spoon remaining sauce over the turkey and spread the mozzarella cheese on top.

May be prepared a day in advance to this point. When cool, cover and refrigerate. Add more cheese over the top if the sauce has settled.

Place uncovered in upper third of preheated 400 degree oven. Heat about 25 minutes (more if refrigerated?) until hot through and the top is brown. Meat will be juicier if served fairly promptly.

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I serve it with home-made cranberry sauce and hot dinner rolls. I can't remember what all Julia had on the same menu with it.

Do you happen to remember that Mary Tyler Moore episode from 1973 "Mary's Dinner Party?" She was notorious for disastrous parties so this time The Happy Homemaker, Sue Ann Nivens (Betty White), was going to prepare the food. Mr. Grant crashed the party, and when Sue Ann came around with the Veal Prince Orloff, he took two helpings. Sue Ann kept pointing out that there were only enough servings to go around, and eventually shamed him into putting some of it back. I'll never forget her saying "Veal Prince Orloff" in such a prissy way. Of course, when you look at the recipe above, you can see why it's so precious.