Gofri, the recipe

Here's one of our favorite local festival snacks that turns up in more places now and again, Gofri(go free). It's a thin crispy waffle filled with any number of savory and sweet fillings.

Gofri with Nutella sandwiched in between,
served up at our favorite watering hole,
Beba microbrewery in our neighboring town of Villar Perosa.

I wrote about them and some of the other award winning local specialties here.

My original introduction to Gofri, was a light flavorful waffle slathered with local favorite, Nutella (as the original guilty pleasure hails from nearby Alba). Pure bliss. It didn't take me long to be won over by prosciutto crudo and aged creamy tomini cheese, or porcini mushrooms and marinated artichokes, or with marmalade and, and, and,.....mmmmm. I think I'm just going to have to go and fix myself something to eat before I fall off my chair fantasizing about the possibilities.

Here we have the outdoor variety set up for flea market the other day

The secret of the crispy outside is the lard that they lube up the hot griddle with.

If you haven't worked it out yet. Gofri making is a male dominated cooking endeavor.

Not unlike bar-b-que, which is also one of the favorite male bonding sports as well here in Italy.
I think it speaks to something very deeply ingrained back in the day of the discovery of fire and dinosaur burgers, but I digress.

Once they are determined crispy, it's on to the choice of fillings and ultimately eating.
I am passing along the recipe of our friends Alma and Renato's from Mentoulles, a small hamlet next to Fenestrelle Fortress.

During the winter Olympics of 2006 they invited us up to share a big feast of gofri with all the fixins and some of their very own moscato wine from their cantina. Notice the big stack of gofri, front and center, that we managed to polish off without too much of an effort. Renato is there manning their indoor set up in their cantina. It was a memorable night indeed. Now you can make your own little gofri festival and create some memories of your own.

Gofri

• 1 liter of water, tepid
  
• 750 g of farina, 00
• 1 cube of fresh yeast
• pinch of salt

Mix the fresh yeast and salt with the tepid water.
Whisk the flour into the water, salt and yeast mixture.
Leave in a warm place for 3 hours to allow the batter to develop.
Heat your griddle till very hot.
Run a piece of fatback over the griddle or brush with lard.
Brush with a light coating of olive oil or sunflower oil.
Close to reheat briefly.
Pour your batter over the whole surface to cover and close.
Cook on one side and flip over
Cook until light brown and crispy.
Give it a poke with a fork if uncertain that it is cooked all the way through.
Place on a plate, cover one half with your preferred topping and fold in half.
Serve immediately.
Lick your fingers clean.

Toppings/fillings suggestions

Prosciutto crudo and soft cheese, gorgonzola
Cooked ham with mozzarella
marinated artichokes, tomatoes and stacchino cheese
spicy salami thinly sliced

Nutella
Apricot or any of your favorite preserves. I love plum with rosemary
Anything goes really.