What’s in Season: A mid-April Mount Hope Farm farmers market brings in a fresh catch of seafood

Even though the sun is starting to peek out from behind April rainclouds, the untrustworthy weather mixed with the breeze off the bay makes being outside on the bare edges of blustery and chilly. That’s why, despite it being mid-April, the Mount Hope Farmers Market spent its last “winter” weekend indoors in the barn. On April 20 the market will debut its first “summer” market out in the South Pasture, hopefully with the raw New England weather turning milder and more pleasant. 

During April and the start of the “true” spring season, food makers can find some early culinary gems from the land and the sea. From the land, some varieties of leeks can be harvested in spring. Leeks, with its many different varieties and growing practices, are technically in season year-round, but overwintered leeks can be bigger and more strongly flavored than those harvested in the summer, making them a true delicacy as the typical planting season begins in April. From the sea, mussels are like leeks. Now a modern aquaculture product, the bivalves can be harvested year-round and are often categorized as an affordable seafood protein.  

At the Mount Hope Farmers Market, Brightside Seafood Market displayed sumptuous cuts of raw fish, and next to the tuna steaks and white fish, mussels – already scrubbed and debearded – were mounded over ice. Everything was as fresh as could be: “We buy out of Stonington, Connecticut, to Maine,” owner Mike Lapierre says, and always, he adds, “direct from the boats.”  

Operating out of a brick-and-mortar shop in Bonnet Shores, Narragansett, Brightside Seafood Market travels to the Mount Hope and Tiverton Farmers markets Saturdays and Sundays, respectively. Lapierre started his own business as a way to step into his father’s shoes and take over his legacy; his father was in the wholesale fish market business for over thirty years: “my childhood was in a fish warehouse that processed thousands of pounds of fish,” Lapierre remembers. When his dad made to retire, Lapierre took a “sabbatical” in the industry, buying for Wholefoods, cutting for places in Mystic, and even working on a scallop boat, for example. The work and connections he made helped him to prepare for owning his own business. After buying from the boats, he cuts and peddles the fresh catches.   

Fresh, large, and already cleaned, these mussels were irresistible. For Lapierre, mussels have no end of delicious uses. “I’m a big paella type of guy,” he says, referencing the Spanish dish made with saffron rice and shellfish. Lapierre also listed off cioppino, a “San Francisco-type of bouillabaisse,” and stuffed mussels as alternative recipes. To stuff a mussel, he says to sauté the shellfish in garlic and olive oil, then scoop out the meat from the shells. Make some jasmine rice and combine it with the meat, cilantro, and some line, and stuff the mixture back into the shells to create a Mediterranean-Mexican fusion dish. The bottom line, Lapierre explains, is to keep it simple: “Get some butter in a pan, some garlic” and make “something in a sauce over pasta or something in a sauce I’m dipping bread into. When it’s fresh, there’s no way to screw it up.” 

That’s good advice and a promising statement for people like me who have never cooked with any type of shellfish besides frozen shrimp. For a hearty springtime meal, I decided to combine elements of Spanish paella and the traditional linguini and clams, with surf-and-turf seasonal elements: the mussels and the leeks. I took inspiration from recipes from The Guardian, BBCGoodFood, and Delicious Magazine to create mussels with saffron and leeks over spaghetti. This is a meal that is quick and easy to come together, looks grand as a centerpiece of the table, and has beautiful depth of flavor from the earthy saffron, the subtle oceanic taste of the mussels with their buttery meat, and the sweet, delicate leeks. 

Mussels with Saffron and Leeks Over Spaghetti Recipe:

3 leeks

3 Tbsp. unsalted butter

2 cloves garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

Pinch of saffron threads

1 c. dry white wine

2/3 c. heavy cream 

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

2 bay leaves

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

1.5 lbs. mussels

Spaghetti 

Pasta water

Instructions: 

1. Prepare the leeks. Cut away the root and slice the fibrous dark green tops off. Then, cut the leeks in half and wash well – they like to hold on to dirt and grit between the layers. Cut the washed leeks into thin half-moons. 
2. In a large pan, sauté the leeks in melted butter, salt, and garlic for about three minutes. Add in the wine and saffron threads, bring to a simmer, and stir so the flavors infuse. Cook until softened. 
3. In the meantime, rinse your mussels and bring a large pot of water to a boil for the spaghetti. Cook the pasta and reserve one cup of the water. Once the leeks are tender, turn the heat to medium-low and add in the mussels. Cover to cook until the mussels open – about four minutes – shaking the pan a few times. 
4. Stir in heavy cream and bay leaves and heat the mixture through. 
5. Finish the sauce with lemon juice, the chopped parsley, and pepper. Slowly add in pasta water until the sauce is the desired consistency and will coat well over the noodles. Serve over the spaghetti and enjoy with leftover white wine.  

Note: I used mussels that were cleaned and debearded. If they are not already this way, you must clean and prepare your mussels before cooking. Chefs should also look for and discard mussels that are broken or have already opened and do not close when tapped with a finger or on the side of a bowl – these are bad to eat. After cooking, do not eat any mussels that have not opened. 

This dish will make about four large servings. The total cost of the ingredients (portioned) is about $41.29. The cost of each serving will be about $10.32.