The Ermellino chicken of Rovigo was born in an experimental chicken farm Rovigo in 1959. It resulted from a cross breeding of Sussex and Rhode Island chickens. It was chosen primarily for its economic advantages: in the 1950s the goal was to raise poultry to compete with the American breeds; priority was therefore given to important features such as growth rate, resistance to common disease, strong production of big light brown eggs; all this without  giving up on quality of the meat.

The Ermellino chicken of Rovigo is a rustic breed ideal for pasture; it adapts to different agricultural environments, indoors and outdoors or using the biological method. It is used for first-generation crosses with chickens bred for meat. The chicks at birth have a soft yellow plumage; as adults both the male and the female have a typical ermine plumage and a perfectly black tail.

The skin and feet are yellow. The males are easily distinguished from females at the eight week of life, because they are bigger and more erect. Poultry, like all white meat, is characterized by a low fat and high protein content, which is essential for tissue renewal and the formation of hormones, enzymes and antibodies. Having less connective tissue and shorter, thinner muscle fibres than other meat, it is very digestible and rich in iron and oleic acid.

Stuffed chicken thighs

Ingredients:

4  Ermellinato chicken thighs
80 gr bacon
130 gr chicken liver
160 gr chicken breast
60 gr boiled  spinach
100 gr tomato sauce
1 small shallot
200 gr mushrooms
½ cup of  brandy or cognac
dry white wine
1 egg yolk
100 gs butter
salt and pepper

Procedure:

To make the filling melt the butter in a saucepan, add bacon cut into cubes and brown it. Remove the bacon and set aside; in the same pot cook the chicken liver, keeping it rare, and add salt and pepper. Remove the liver and add it to bacon. In the same pan brown the chicken breasts, cut into small pieces, add salt and pepper, and when they are cooked, add them to bacon and liver.

Discard any fat left in casserole, place a pat of butter and sauté 1 small shallot that has been chopped. Replace the bacon , liver and chicken in saucepan and  let simmer, moisten with brandy and some  white dry wine until it evaporates. Put in meat grinder, along with previously boiled spinach and let cool. Add one egg yolk, mix and adjust with salt and pepper. Clean four chicken thighs and if necessary, pass them over the fire to burn off the feathers, unbone them, add salt internally, and then stuffing.

Close with a toothpick, and add salt externally. Cook in the same saucepan with a part of butter. Finally remove fat, sprinkle with more white wine and let evaporate. Add the mushrooms, washed and trimmed, add salt and pepper and add tomato sauce. Serve the thigh on a bed of tomato sauce and mushrooms accompanied with oven-backed potatoes scented with rosemary.

Suggested wine: Cabernet Sauvignon Colli Euganei D.O.C.