For years, our friend Anne has invited us to spend a few days at her coastal haven in San Felipe, Baja California. We finally accepted her generous offer as part of our road trip through Baja California. When we arrived, we found San Felipe had beautiful azure shores and an unexpected bounty—fresh Gulf of California shrimp. The moment presented a perfect opportunity to prepare a traditional French dish, Moules Mariniere, with freshly caught shrimp.
San Felipe: finding the fresh catch of shrimp
San Felipe is a fishing village, its main streets and malecon (beach boardwalk) filled with individual fishermen selling the day’s fresh catch. These fishermen go out on their pangas (metal skiffs) to catch shrimp using nets in areas outside the Biosphere Reserve of the Upper Gulf of California. In the winter, common catches include shrimp, Corvina and sardines.
The malecon in San Felipe
Jorge, a local fisherman, kindly invited us into his garage where he proudly displayed his fishing gear and fish cleaning station. He sold us a pound (500g) of his plum blue shrimp for $120 pesos ($7 USD), which was exactly what we wanted to try.
Jorge and his partner working in the garage.
Shrimp recipe & ingredients
Given the unique size and freshness of the shrimp we purchased, we decided it would be best preparation would be a simpler sauce that highlighted, rather than overpowered, the delicate flavor of the shrimp. With that in mind, we pulled together a quick poaching sauce based on the iconic French dish Moules Mariniere.
Moules Mariniere, which means “Sailor Style Mussels,” is said to have its origins in the coastal regions of Brittany and Normandy, and later became popular across France. Today, restaurants like Leon de Bruxelles and Hippopotamus have become famous for serving this dish.
The dish is based on using simple, widely available ingredients to highlight beautiful fresh shellfish. The traditional recipe includes shallots, white wine, butter, and parsley as ingredients, but there are numerous modern variations to the classic including cream, tomato, and curry sauces.
This is a perfect recipe to eat in warmer weather, paired with a simple green salad and some crusty bread to dip in the poaching liquid. From our garden, we had a lovely mix of flashy butter gem, Gustav’s salad, and Linux lettuces and red sorrel. We made a simple salad with these greens, some fresh purple bumble bee tomatoes, and spring onions and dressed it with a fresh squeeze of lemon and drizzle of California olive oil.
Pre trip garden harvest of jade green beans, black beauty zucchini, banana peppers, purple bumble bee tomatoes and shishito peppers.
We also brought a loaf of homemade sourdough bread with us which we sliced and served alongside the shrimp. We made the loaf using a rustic sourdough bread recipe from King Arthur flour(5) as a base, modified to substitute 3.5oz (100g) of rye flour for 3.5oz of all-purpose flour to provide a more complex flavor and one pound (500g) of bread flour for all-purpose flour to increase the bread’s chewiness.
Shrimp Mariniere
Xavier’s mother and grandmother used this recipe to prepare mussels during the times of year when they are available at local farmer’s markets in Alsace-Lorraine. While we think mussels are tender and delicious prepared this way, it also suits large shrimp. The sauce and cooking method is gentle enough not to overpower the delicate flavor. Replacing the chicken or vegetable stock with a fresh shrimp stock would further enhance the outcome but that wasn’t available in San Felipe and we didn’t have enough shrimp heads to make it.
This recipe is perfect for two as a main dish or four as an appetizer and can easily be increased to serve more. While it does make quite a lot of sauce we didn’t have any left after soaking it up with bread. In France, moules mariniere is also served with a side of fries, but we were content to stick with bread. The recipe paired well with a cold Tecate and white wine from Valle de Guadalupe.
The dish works best with fresh, high-quality ingredients because it relies on simple, delicate flavors. If possible, use fresh, not frozen shrimp, purchased within 24 hours of cooking. We found we did not need to add any additional salt as the saltiness of the shrimp and stock was sufficient.
The recipe below varies from the classic moules mariniere because it is made using roux as the base to thicken the poaching liquid, enhancing its texture and making it a more flavorful dip for the bread. In the typical recipe, shallots are also used, but we didn’t have any and couldn’t find any in the markets in San Felipe, so we substituted spring onions. This ended up being to our benefit though, as we agreed we preferred the more delicate flavor of spring onions over shallots.
Shrimp mariniere with crusty sourdough bread and a simple salad
2 tablespoons (30g) butter, ideally unsalted
3 spring onions sliced, including both white ends and green tips
4 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tablespoons (15g) all purpose flour
½ cup (115ml) chicken or vegetable stock, ideally reduced salt
½ cup (115ml) dry white wine, such as sauvignon blanc
½ cup (115ml) water
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 dried bay leaf
1 pound (500g) shrimp, large size if possible, peeled and deveined
¼ cup (15g) fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped (optional)
Salt to taste
Time: 20 minutes active; 20 minutes total
Servings: 2 (main); 4 (starter)
- In a wide pot or deep frying pan melt the butter over medium low heat. Add the garlic and spring onions and cook gently for 1-2 minutes until softened, stirring constantly and taking care not to brown them.
- Add the flour and mix to combine into a roux. Cook the roux stirring constantly to avoid browning. The roux should be cooked until slightly thickened and the smell of raw flour has disappeared, which should take 2-4 minutes.
Step 2, making the roux.
- Pour in the stock, wine, water and lemon juice and deglaze the pan, scraping up any bits that have stuck to the pan. If the garlic and spring onions have been cooked gently enough there shouldn’t be anything to deglaze.
Step 3, adding the liquids. Deglazing creates a lot of steam, blurring the photo.
- Continue stirring to create a smooth sauce with no lumps. We find a wooden spoon works best for us although a whisk also works well. Bring the sauce to a simmer, add the bay leaf, and cook uncovered for 5 minutes.
- Add the shrimp and cook for 2-4 minutes, until the shrimp are cooked through, no longer pink (or grey) inside and curled, flipping them half way through to ensure even cooking. Taste the sauce and add salt as necessary.
Step 4, adding the shrimp
- Scatter the fresh parsley over the top and serve with crusty bread and a simple green salad.
Step 4, adding parsley once finished shrimp are in the serving dish.
As Xavier says, “bon app!”.
For more in depth information on San Felipe, the conservation issues, and related recipes please explore the links below. I also welcome any thoughts or suggestions in the comments section below.
References and related links
- Seafood Watch shrimp report (Monterey Bay Aquarium) https://www.seafoodwatch.org/globalassets/sfw-data-blocks/reports/s/mba_seafoodwatch_mexicoshrimpreport.pdf
- Article covering the fishing and economic challenges in San Felipe (Arizona Public Media) https://news.azpm.org/p/news-topical-nature/2020/10/21/182544-mexico-fishermen-scoff-at-governors-suggestion-to-switch-to-taxi-driving/
- Review of the impact on fishing in the Sea of Cortez (National Geographic) https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/the-high-stakes-quest-to-save-a-behemoth-croaking-fish
- Recipe for rustic sourdough (King Arthur Flour) https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/rustic-sourdough-bread-recipe)
- A classic moules mariniere recipe (David Lebovitz) https://www.davidlebovitz.com/moules-frites-mussels-french-fries/
- Purple bumble bee tomato seeds (Baker Creek Heirloom seeds) https://www.rareseeds.com/tomato-purple-bumble-bee
