A couple of weeks ago, at work, one of the chefs whipped up an arugula pesto to use on pizzas.  It was bright green, and had a little extra zing then your regular pesto.  This inspired me into trying to make my own variation at home.  I decided to go the extra mile, and pair it with homemade arugula lasagna noodles, ricotta, caramelized onions, mushrooms, and a hard Italian cheese.

Arugula Lasagna Noodles

You can use regular store bought lasagna noodle if you prefer, but I was up for the challenge of making my own.  If you do decide to make your own noodled, make sure to make them several hours before you assemble your lasagna in order to give them enough time to dry.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups Flour
• 4 Eggs (room temp.)
• 2-3 tbsp Water
• ~ 1/2 cup baby Arugula

Directions:

1. In the food processor combine the flour, eggs, and water until the dough forms.
2. Cover the dough, and allow it to rest for 20 – 30 minutes.
3. Cut your dough into eight even wedges.
4. Roll each wedge out using a pasta machine while maintaining the remaining dough covered as you work.
5. Once you have rolled your dough to the desired thickness, arrange a few leaves of arugula on one side of the piece of dough.
6. Fold the side of dough without arugula over the arugula side enveloping the arugula inside the dough.
7. Re-roll the dough a couple more times, incasing the arugula inside and decreasing the thickness of the noodle.
8. Place the long thick noodle on a rack to dry, and repeat the process with the remaining dough wedges.

Arugula Lasagna

Ingredients:

•  1 cup of homemade Pesto that has been blended together with several handfuls of Arugula
• 1 sliced Onion
• 1 pint sliced Mushrooms
• 1 tsp Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper for seasoning
• 1 1/2 cups Ricotta
• 10 oz shredded Mozzarella
• 1 cup shredded hard Italian cheese (parmesan or asiago are good choices.  I selected a toscano cheese for this one)
• Lasagna noodles (cooked if you are using store bought noodles, the homemade noodles will cook in the oven)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F (~177 C).
2. Heat up a skillet with the olive oil.
3. Caramelize the onions in the skillet.
4. Add in the mushrooms to cook.
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Grease a lasagna pan.
7. Spread a third of the Pesto across the bottom of the pan, followed by a third of the onions and mushrooms.
8. Layer in your first layer of lasagna noodles.
9. Spread half of the ricotta over the noodles, and sprinkle half of the sharp cheese over it.
10. Make your second layer of lasagna noodles.
11. Spread a third of the Pesto over the lasagna noodles, followed by a third of the onions and mushrooms, and half of the mozzarella.
12. Make your third layer of lasagna noodles.
13. Spread the rest of the ricotta over the noodles, and sprinkle the remaining sharp cheese over the ricotta.
14. Make your fourth layer of lasagna noodles.
15. Spread the remaining pesto over the noodles, followed by the remaining onions and mushrooms, and the last of the mozzarella cheese.
16. Bake the lasagna for 45 minutes.