Summer Dinner Party in the City

First, I have to share this great pic I took on my run Friday morning -- I rarely make it over to the East River and loved running by the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. 

This past weekend was my first in the city all summer.  The forecast wasn't great and a lot of my friends and roommates had left for the weekend. When I woke up Saturday morning I was really looking forward to just having nothing to do. I knew this feeling would not last long and needed a plan.  It's been a long, long time since I've seriously cooked so I decided to invite some friends over and host a dinner party in the new apartment.  It was great to have a day all to myself - I went to Pilates, took a 3 hour nap, read on our roof, and then was pumped to look up recipes, pick a summery menu, head to Whole Foods and start cooking and drinking wine. 

The Menu:

Minty Pea Dip & Guacamole

Arugula & White Bean Salad

Farro Salad with Tomatoes, Cucumber, Corn & Basil

Grilled Chicken & Turkey Burgers (bought these from Whole Foods)

Lots of Wine & Limoncello 

The Arugula salad was so easy and light. The only thing I really added to this was a homemade dressing. I also had the white beans "marinate" in some of the dressing for about 15 minutes before mixing them in with the arugula to give them some extra flavor. This salad would be great with added cherry tomatoes, onions or crumbled Feta.

For the dressing:

2 Tablespoons EVOO

2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar

2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar

1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard 

Garlic Salt, Salt & Pepper 

A Dash of Soy Sauce 

*100% guessing on all of these measurements

I'm still thinking about Charlie Bird's Farro salad so I attempted to make something similar. I tweaked this recipe a bit and added corn, Parmesan cheese, and a little garlic salt.  I also used a little bit less olive oil and went heavier on the Red Wine Vinegar. It was my first time making Farro and I am horrible at estimating how much food to make and doubled the recipe  -- It was WAY too much and could have fed a dinner party of literally 25 people (we were 8), but it was delish and will make for great leftovers. 

Here's the full plate with a Turkey Burger -- so light, fresh, and healthy. 

Such a fun summer night in the city!