06 February 2009
 
Economic Indicators

(Skirt Steak BLT with Basil Mayonnaise)

I was walking the visiting dog- he is quite a cutie- but both of us moved briskly in the blast. The temperature might have been in the lower twenties, but the wind had picked up from the north, and coming around the lee of Big Pink’s west flank, it sliced through the openings between the buttons of my coat.

The sun was dying in the West, and we were approaching the Assembly of God at feeding time. I realized we were walking into a stand-alone economic indicator.
 
The good people of the Church have operated the modern equivalent of a soup kitchen for years there, a relatively low-key operation that serves the people- almost exclusively young Hispanic men- from the Buckingham neighborhood to the north.
 
When they ripped down the garden apartments next to the Culpepper Assisted Living Facility to throw up the monster new apartment complex, I made a mental note to see how much the foot traffic increased across our parking lot in the evening.
I enjoy a cocktail on the balcony anyway, and looking down at the evening parade, it was no problem to keep an unofficial tally on how the economy was doing.
 
Being down at ground level with an active young dog, I realized that the economic train-wreck was having a real and palpable effect on the neighborhood.  The monster apartment building, intended to provide affordable housing, was not even open yet, and a parade of men in hooded sweatshirts and thick coats=2 0was marching diagonally through the Arlington Oaks property, across the lawns, and down onto our parking lot.
 
Last year, you might have seen a few knots of people in the evening walking slowly toward Pershing and the side door of the church. This year the line stretched almost without interruption past the dumpsters, and up the concrete walkways that crisscross the green public areas of the complex.
 
The dog alerted to their presence, and I didn’t blame him. Vapor from the m ouths of the marching men wafted toward us in the chill lowering light and the sound of Spanish and laughter bounced off the pink brick walls behind us.
 
I’m a big enough guy to have a presence of my own, and the dog, but I felt a little intimidated by the presence of the men so assured in their steady progress. I wondered what the women from the building thought, walking their dogs alone down here.
 
One of them apparently had been agitated enough to bring a motion to the Condo Board asking the Arlington Cops to patrol the grounds, a legal nuance that would give them the right to enter the grounds without asking permission.
 
The Board shot the proposal down, preferring not to have an uninvited police presence on the property. I wondered where this would all go if the bad times settle in for the long haul. Hunger has a certain imperative, and it was enough to make all these men don their heavy clothes and march bocks for free beans and rice.
 
I thought about that when the dog and I got back up to Tunnel Eight. I had put a skirt steak on low heat before we went out. My solution to the crisis- one of them, anyway- is to swing by the Bolling Air Force Commissary when I am doing business on the east side of the Anacostia River.
 
A lot of the Air Force leadership lives in the stately quarters on the inside of the tall wire fences that separate military order from the chaos and disorder of the District’s Ward Seven. The anarchy would be an economic indicator if it was not like that in the best of times.

With that many general officers on the base, the Commissary is always well-stocked. Often they don’t sell out the better cuts of meat, and when they reach the end of their open storage life, the butchers pull the packages and put them in the discount freezer.
 
I have found some great deals there, and possibly because of some general’s NATO tour, French-style hanger and skirt steaks are often available at steep discounts. Those are the cuts the Parisian butchers would trim from the more handsome cuts, well marbled, and roll them up and hang them above their wood-block worktables to take home after quitting time.
 
Fabulous with a young red wine.
 
This particular chill day, I was going to slow cook a skirt, seasoned with garlic, sea salt and crushed black pepper, sauté some mushrooms and onions and peppers along with it and serve on a bed of basmati rice.
 
The dog was skeptical about the whole thing, and believed we could streamline the process, going direct from the fry-pan in small strips to his mouth.
 
I play the one-for-me, one-for-you game with him while I cook, and often get to the end of the process having had dinner before it technically comes off the stove.
 
This is winter dining , but I have my hopes. I glanced at the clock. Darkness now was full at five-thirty; each day brings another With the sun gone, the parade to the church had ended, and the return march began. I could see them from my window, the long line of men streaming from the Church, across Pershing, into our parking lot and over the grounds of the condos next door.
 
Spring will come. We are gaining two minutes and twelve seconds of daylight each day. By the end of the month we will have nearly forty-five more minutes of sun, and the crocuses will be poking their heads up out of the soil.
 
Time to start planning for Springtime cooking. Have you thought about how to spice up that skirt steak with a flare?
I hadn’t, but Tyler Florence has. He is a charismatic young man who has parleyed his outgoing persona into show-business cooking on the Food Channel, which is where I spend some day-dreaming time when the nights are long. He is all about the sauce.
 
When he mentioned skirt steak, my ears perked up. He may not know that I have a special source, but the proximity of Spring and the Bolling AFB Commissary lead me to copy down a recipe for Fresh Basil Mayonnaise with chives, smeared on broiled skirt s teak, thick sliced fresh tomatoes and crispy bacon on a garnish of Bibb lettuce on a fresh baguette of bread.
 
My mouth began to water.
 
I agree with Tyler. The mayo is the key to the zest. He makes it in a blender, but I think a vigorous whisk does just as well: integating the mayo, fresh basil, chives and lemon juice just right. Chill to let the ingredients get to know one another. Zesty.
 
Tyler claims this is a fresh new take on the BLT; I think it is a new take on steak. But whatever. That is exactly the kind of meal to take out on the balcony and watch the evening sunset parade file by, just as soon as it is warm. It is my own personal economic indicator.
 
Copyright 2009 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
 
Tyler Florence Skirt Steak/ Bolling Air Force Base  BLT:
 
Ingredients
2 pounds skirts steak
1 loaf of country style bread, thick cut
 in slices toasted on a sheet tray
1 head Bibb lettuce, separated leaves
3 medium vine-ripened tomatoes, thick-cut slices
8 strips of bacon, fried until crispy
2 cloves of garlic
extra-virgin olive oil
kosher salt and freshly ground black
pepper
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup fresh basil
3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
1 tablespoon lemon juice
 
Cooking Instructions
Begin by making the basil mayonnaise so the flavors have time to come together.
Combine all the ingredients in a blender and pulse until combined. Cover and refrigerate
while you prepare the sandwich.
 
Heat a cast iron griddle pan/skillet in the gas oven that you no longer care about getting crusty. After all, you can’t sell the place anyway, so why not enjoy it? You could walk down to the elevator, stop and the front desk and get the key to the public grill and cook while the men march by, or just do it in your kitchen. You do miss the grill, don’t you? Either way, heat the oven or outdoor grill until smoking hot. Season the skirt steak with plenty of kosher s alt and freshly ground black pepper. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil then grill both sides for 3 to 4 minutes until medium rare. Set aside loosely tented with aluminum foil while you prepare the other fillings.
 
To assemble, take one slice of the toasted bread and rub a garlic clove all over 1 side.

Put a big slather of basil mayonnaise across the bread. Layer the lettuce over the top and then the thick-cut slices of tomato. Top with the crispy bacon slices and season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Take the skirt steak and using a sharp knife cut across the grain into thick slices. Lay the pieces of the sliced skirt steak on the top of the open sandwich and serve with more basil mayonnaise on the side.

Copyright 2009 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com