I must explain the name first.
I would hate to give the impression that just because I am living in France that I have had the patience to read Marcel Proust’s epic A La Recherche des Temps Perdu.
The extraction of this recipe from Proust’s book was done by the great English cookery writer, Jane Grigson about 30 years ago in a book called Food with the Famous which is still available.
In the book the late and much lamented Ms. Grigson gives us some recipes from famous writers, a most enjoyable read for someone as nosy as me who also likes to cook.
In fact it is not M. Proust who is responsible for this recipe still having a leading place in my repetoire but the fact that it is one of the most delicious methods of cooking a chicken.
Inserting the butter between the skin and the flesh is well worth the effort and gives one an incomparibly moist and flavoursome chicken.
You can of course (and I frequently do) vary the herbs you mix with the butter and do by all means leave out the garlic if you are not a fan.


Roast Chicken Marcel Proust

(for 4)

1 Large Chicken (Free Range if you can afford it)
60g (2 oz.) Butter
1 bunch Parsley (and or Tarragon, Chervil , Basil or Sorrel)
2 cloves of Garlic
Salt and black pepper..

Set the Oven to 190C, 375F, Gas 5.

Soften, but don’t melt the butter, chop the parsley or herbs finely and crush or finely chop the garlic.
Mix the herbs and garlic with the butter to form a soft paste.

Now very carefully from the neck side of the chicken push your hand between the skin and the flesh on both sides of the breast bone.
Be very careful not to rip the skin, (Ladies remove large diamond rings)
If you can, reach stretch your fingers over the legs of the chicken and release r the skin there too.
Now push a layer of the butter paste into the area between skin and flesh.
(You can smooth it out by patting the top of the skin)
Now put the chicken into the pre heated oven in a dish which it fits reasonably closely.
Cook the bird on one breast for twenty minutes then change it onto the other breast for a further twenty and then turn it on its back, breast up for the last twenty minutes.
At this stage the breast should be sufficiently brown so I pour a glass of water into the cooking dish, cover it roughly with foil and cook it like that for the last 20.
After this hour of cooking, test the chicken to make sure it is cooked through and then leave it somewhere warm to rest for about 20 minutes before carving.

Pour the pan juices into a small saucepan and leave then rest with the chicken.
The fat will rise to the surface and can be discarded ( I keep most of these buttery juices in the sauce, that is a matter of taste)
Give these juices a boil, add water if sparse, and season with salt and pepper.
Carve the chicken and serve the sauce with it.

Serve with a green vegetable (spinach or Swiss chard are good) and potatoes.