Melisa Valenzi is known for sharing her love of the Spanish language with the Sudbury community for almost 15 years. Now under the name “Las Churras”, she is bringing her empanadas to visitors to the Sudbury Market.
These crescent-shaped dough delights can be filled with ingredients like beef, chicken, cheese or vegetables.
Las Churras, Valenzi explained, is a term used to describe something or someone that is particularly good-looking, which is exactly what she wants people to say about her food.
“When you pass a handsome or beautiful person, you say this and that’s what I want people to say about these,” she said.
Valenzi began offering the empanadas for customers in June, 2023
Growing up in an Italian/Argentinian household, she said she learned to make great pasta and pizza, and empanadas.
Valenzi came to Sudbury to be with extended family members who also relocated here.
Since her arrival, she has been teaching Spanish classes, which are offered at École Felix Ricard in New Sudbury. She called her language instruction business “La Plata” after the city she hails from in the province of Buenos Aires, where she visits every few years to see her mother.
Filled with beef and spicy but not hot, empanadas de creole are traditional to Argentina. Valenzi said this style is a customer favourite in addition to the ham and cheese empanadas.
She makes a few other options as well, including an Italian-inspired chicken caprese with herbs, tomatoes and Spanish onion.
The work to make chicken empanadas is much more labour intensive, Valenzi said.
Customers can buy Valenzi’s wares for $5 each or by the dozen for $50. She said a lot of people eat them at the market, while others take a box for a family meal.
For the sweet tooth, Melisa also offers traditional “alfajores”, otherwise known as pastries.
Filled with the milk-based caramel sauce dulce de leche, these cornstarch cookies look like mini sandwiches or macarons.
Valenzi has also built churros, flavoured with cinnamon and sugar, into her menu. Back home, these fried dough strips are sweetened only with sugar.
“People here prefer the Mexican way of dressing the churro with a cinnamon and sugar combination sprinkled on top. In Argentina, sugar is cheap so they just use that.,” she said.
Valenzi said her teenage daughter sometimes helps where she can. She uses rented certified kitchen space at Create-a-Cake headquarters in Chelmsford to do all her preparation work.
As a language teacher, she prefers word of mouth so you won’t find Las Churras on social media. She hopes prospective customers will come visit her booth and order some traditional Argentinian food to eat on site or to go.
Anastasia Rioux is a writer in Greater Sudbury. Let’s Eat! is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
