Ana expands her empanada business.
This piece first appeared in The Rutland Herald.
Ana DiTursi started her business, Ana’s Empanadas, three years ago with a little table at the Rutland Farmer’s Market and fifty baked, meat-filled pastries. Now, in spite of a difficult economy that has consumers curtailing their spending, DiTursi is making thousands of empanadas a week for what has become a fulltime business for her as well as for husband Rob. And ironically, Rob DiTursi sees the positive side of the recession-like conditions. “If we’d been starting the business in an easy economy, we wouldn’t be pushing ourselves as much,” he says. The couple recently relocated production from their state licensed but tiny home kitchen in Chittendon to expansive digs at 54 Strongs Avenue in Rutland, where they are cooking and baking in back and running a take out up front.
Rob DiTursi feels that it’s a commitment to quality that has helped the business flourish. “We didn’t cheapen our product,” he says, “People want their hard earned dollar to go towards something that’s going to be good.” That’s why they’ve continued to use Vermont raised organic beef, chicken and pork and local fresh produce in their products. Most of their dozen or so varieties use recipes from Ana’s native Argentina, but some have an American twist. The Gaucho Chicken empanada, for example, is made from a traditional Buenos Aires formula with roasted Sunset Farms Chicken simmered with tomatoes, peppers, onions and Spanish spices. The pulled pork and broccoli and cheddar varieties are based on more traditionally North American combinations.
Ana Ditursi started out making empanadas years ago, for gatherings of family and friends. She loved to bake, but even though it was just an avocation then, Ana was dogged by a desire to get her empanadas just right. She spent three years trying out different flours and shortenings to produce the best pastry, not too soft and not too stiff, a dough she could roll out to just the right thickness. And, on visits to Argentina, Ana would look to learn new recipes. She’d visit shops, where she’d sample and chit-chat, often convincing the proprietors to reveal their secrets.
This past summer, with Ana’s “hobby” now a booming business, the DiTursis between them were selling from six farmer’s markets, and firing up their little oven six hours a day, seven days a week, to keep up with demand. Empanadas seemed to be taking over their 1200 square foot house. And there was no respite on the horizon—since last winter, they’ve also been supplying empanadas to hungry skiers and snowboarders from a canvas and wood hut at the base of the Needle’s Eye lift at Killington. So when friend Peter Creyf recently relocated his Waffle Cabin factory to a bigger facility, freeing up the space on Strongs Avenue, the DiTursis jumped on it.
Now they not only have more space, they’ve also invested in a restaurant-grade convection oven and some used, but high quality equipment to help with all the kneading, rolling, and mincing that their business requires. Rob is particularly anxious to break in his “vertical chopper,” a sort of giant blender, to make the spicy chimichurri sauce that’s become a popular accompaniment to the empanadas. And with the time freed up by a mixer that can handle maybe 100 pounds of dough and a sheeter that can roll out at least some of the empanada pastry, Ana will be hand making sweet, crunchy Arentinian facturas, sugar-glazed rolls filled with custard or caramel dulce de leche or dried fruits and nuts.
Farmers Markets got Ana’s Empanadas going and sustained it over the last three years, and will continue to be an important part of the business. The Ditursis have developed friendships among the vendors at the markets, and respect for the hand-crafted, home-grown products that are sold there. “There are a lot of good people at farmers markets who do a lot of good things,” says Rob. So in the takeout space they’ve created at Strongs Avenue, the DiTursis will also sell some of their compadres’ products. They plan to carry Isobel and Appleby’s pies, for example, Consider Bardwell cheeses, and Battenkill Brittle, a granola bar-like concoction of seeds, nuts, and Vermont maple syrup.
So, for all the customers who pleaded with the DiTursis at the end of the summer market season to “get a restaurant, please!” the pair has made a big first step. Ana’s Empanadas at 54 Strongs Avenue in Rutland will be open for takeout and advance party orders from 11 AM to 2:30 PM and 4:30 PM to 7:00 PM Tuesday through Thursday; those hours are extended to 9:00 PM on Fridays and Saturdays. On Sundays, the store will be open from 11 AM to 3 PM. Their empanadas will also be available at the Rutland Winter Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, and at the Killington location during ski hours.