Shrimp & Scallop Divan

Seafood is an extravagant purchase where I come from.

We’re only about 1,000 miles away from the closest coast and good, cheap seafood is really hard to come by. My main seafood purchases are shrimp and catfish, and I do that sparingly.

I’m talking a once-a-month meal.

So imagine my surprise when my local grocer has bay scallops priced for less than $7 dollars a pound this weekend. Bingo! I bought them up without even knowing what I was going to use them for. Scallops are my favorite seafood treat. Sea scallops are the best—big, juicy, succulent little pads of seafood goodness. Bay scallops are just as good, albeit much smaller.

I’ve been throwing it back retro by perusing a bunch of cookbooks made in the 50’s and 70’s lately. I found a recipe in one old Texas recipe book that was for “Seafood Divan”. The ingredient list included canned shrimp and lobster.

First, I didn’t even know canned lobster was a thing. Weird. Second, canned shrimp is just about the most disgusting thing ever. Fresh shrimp is much, much better.

I tweaked the recipe to my liking and used my scallops in placement of the lobster. Real lobster is way too pricey if you catch my drift. The original recipe also made a bechamel type sauce to go in the casserole, but I can’t eat flour or milk so I used a combination of heavy cream and cream cheese. The sauce was a bit on the thin side, but delicious nonetheless.

In case you’re unaware, divan was a casserole made popular by housewives in mid-century America. All it is: chicken, broccoli, and a white sauce. That’s it. No grains, no fun, no nothing.

I added more seasoning and fun to my seafood divan by cooking the shrimp and scallops in lemon pepper seasoning. Cheese added to the mixture took it to a much better level, too. I think those two things really elevated my divan above the bland 50′ version.

Enjoy!

Step-By-Step Instructions

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add shrimp, scallops, garlic powder, lemon pepper seasoning and salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until shrimp is pink, about 3-4 minutes. Drain off any excess water.

Add cream cheese and heavy cream to seafood skillet. Bring to a simmer and stir. Add Swiss cheese and stir until melted. Add fresh broccoli florets and parsley and remove from heat.

Spray a 13×9″ baking dish with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Pour seafood and broccoli mixture into prepared baking dish and top with paprika. Bake, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes.