Super Solstice Salsa (plus a bonus Old Bay recipe)

To celebrate the first day of summer I got out my handy Wicca Cookbook and found a recipe for Cucumber Salsa in the Summer Solstice section. It calls for only six ingredients: chopped cucumber, chopped jalapeño (I substituted peperoncini), chopped cilantro, fresh squeezed lemon juice, and salt and pepper. The cookbook says it is "delicious over fish, pork, beef, chicken or salad". We were already planning on preparing fresh fish for dinner, so the salsa was enjoyed on top of some haddock cooked in olive oil.

I also discovered that Baltimore's Mayor Catherine Pugh had proclaimed June 21 to be Old Bay Day. As a native Baltimorean I had no choice but to find a second recipe that called for Old Bay. We had already decided on pasta as a side dish, so I adapted a recipe I found online (by entering the ingredients pasta and Old Bay into allrecipes.com) and prepared cooked rigotoni with chopped cucumbers, red pepper flakes, chopped queso blanco, olive oil, lemon juice, and of course some Old Bay seasoning.

This all made for a simple, yet satisfying and refreshing summer meal.

James adds:

This meal paired well with a (not-too-sweet) Riesling from Westport Rivers Vineyard & Winery. We took the rest of the pasta there as part of our picnic last night for the Sunset Music series.