Susana’s Gaucho Empanadas
These tender, flakey pastry pockets are a family affair.
We need to talk about empanadas.
The empanadas we dish out at Leña are freaking fantastic. Made fresh daily by Chef Anthony’s talented wife, Susana, these little pockets of joy are packed with beef, egg and olives, and served with a healthy dose of chiminasty sauce (chimichurri combined with Chef Anthony’s original nasty sauce, for a little extra kick). You can also dig in to our breakfast empanadas, which are topped with poached eggs and chimichurri (the reg kind).
Empanadas have always been crazy popular in Argentina – it’s rare to walk into any bar or restaurant and not see them as a snack on the menu. Despite being so ubiquitous, everyone has little variations on their empanada philosophy – whether its their choice of meat and spices, technique of rolling out the dough, or favoured dipping sauces.
Chef Anthony Walsh and his mother-in-law, Elena, have a very different style of pinching and folding their empanadas. Elena is firm believer that empanadas should sit on a counter as they’re folded, while Chef Anthony is quick to pick his up and tie them up in mid-air.Â
All differences aside, our empanadas represent the melding of familial tradition with the spirit of innovation. And that’s really the heart of what Leña is all about.
