all of the best foods have “bizzaro” versions: regular pizza has dessert pizza, apple pie has chicken pot pie, and monkey bread has…savory monkey bread (though if you’re looking for a really good sweet monkey bread recipe, go HERE). this works out great, because while i have a serious sweet tooth, the girl usually prefers more savory flavors.

just like sweet monkey bread, the dough is a cinch to bring together. i used green onion and parley with a bit of greyere cheese, but any combination of herbs works. i could see adding some crumbled bacon as well…

when we were kids, the best part of making monkey bread was tearing it into tiny pieces and rolling it in cinnamon and sugar. with savory monkey bread, you roll the pieces in herb butter.

then you arrange all the dough pieces in a pan, and brush them with more butter. right before baking, you give it yet another brush of butter. i guess it goes without saying, but the finished monkey bread is incredibly buttery and rich. this would be great dish to just put out and snack on with some friends.

i wanted to give a gigantic shout out to everyone who donated to the susan g komen breast cancer 5k last week. if it was possible for me to give hugs through the internet, please know that i would. it was a fun event and you all really came through. you guys are the best.

and finally, i think i mentioned briefly last week that i was moving soon – well it’s happening this weekend. i’m saying goodbye to my current kitchen and hello to my new one. pro: i now have a dishwasher! con: i now have an electric range. it may take some time to adjust.

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it’s that time of year again! washingtonian magazine has released its top cheap eats for washington dc (many of which are actually in va and md. hmmmm…). the girl and i don’t typically hit up a lot of the big name restaurants around here, but we’re always looking for a good bargain. to help us on our quest for a quality cheap meal, she created this map so we could work our way down the list. feel free to use it yourself and tell your friends!

View Washingtonian Cheap Eats 2009 in a larger map

for reference, the green tabs are places we’ve been and liked, the yellow are places we’ve been and would maybe give another shot, and the red tabs are places we hated. the blue tabs are all the places we haven’t been. i know, i know, we never go out.

if you’ve got a few hours to kill on a sunday afternoon, why not whip up some pasta? hold on, you’ve never made fresh pasta? it’s easy – here, i’ll show you. now you have no excuse.

take 2 cups flour and pour it out on a work surface. form it into a little volcano. add 1 tsp salt in the middle. now things are about to get messy (and fun).

crack 3 eggs into the middle (or crack 1, mix, crack another, mix, etc). carefully mix the flour with the egg, being sure not to break the edge of the flour volcano. you can use a fork to start, but after a few minutes, get your hands in there and really work the dough.

after a bit of mixing and kneading, you’ll end up with this. if the dough is too wet, add a touch of flour. if it’s too dry, sprinkle in some drops of cold water.

divide the dough into a few pieces and run them through a pasta maker. if you’re without a pasta maker, use a rolling pin to get it as thin as possible. it will take some time and elbow grease, but eventually you can get it to about 1/16-inch thick (or thinner). the dough will be springy, so it’s best to work on one piece for a while, let it rest while you work on the next, and just move through each one until little by little until it’s thin.

loosely roll the dough up jelly-roll style and cut them into small rolls. sprinkle some dust on the pasta rolls and unroll them into long strands. don’t worry about tearing it – the dough is surprisingly resilient. from here, you can cook this up immediately or hang it on a rack of some kind (a laundry rack will do) to dry. when you’re ready to cook, only boil the pasta for 3-4 minutes at most. i suggest serving it with creamy caramelized leeks and crispy bacon. that’s what i made, but, true story, i couldn’t get a good picture of it before i ate it all. yes, it was awesome.

quick reminder – there’s still time to sponsor my upcoming 5k for the susan g. komen breast cancer foundation. to everyone who has already donated, i can’t thank you enough. to those who would like to donate, please click here and then click on the “donate to pete” button.

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