Specially Selected Shrimp & Scallops with Champagne Sauce

A few years ago, Aldi introduced some limited-edition crème brûlée that came specially packaged in its own little ceramic serving dishes. The dessert was delicious, but the little dishes also got a lot of attention from Aldi fans who shared various ways to reuse the dishes, including as pet food dishes (great especially for cat food) or as serving dishes for dip or whatever you could think up. (If you have special uses for the dishes, feel free to leave a comment at the end of this post.)

Now, Aldi is selling another food product that comes in its own small serving dishes. This time, it’s a shrimp and scallop bake with a creamy, cheesy, champagne-based sauce. I love seafood and am particularly fond of shrimp, scallops, and other shellfish, so I looked forward to finding these at my local Aldi.

Specially Selected Shrimp & Scallops with Champagne Sauce cost $6.99 for an 8.46-ounce package at the time of publication. With two servings per package, that comes out to about $3.50 per serving. This is on the pricey side especially because the servings aren’t large, so it’s definitely a special treat. This would be nice to save for a fancy dinner or celebration or for an at-home date night.

The package describes this as “shrimp and sweet scallops with a creamy champagne sauce, served in an oven ready terracotta pot.” This is a product of the United Kingdom.

This is an Aldi Find, so it’s only in stores for a short time. Each store gets one shipment, and once that sells out, they’re gone. Aldi does not offer online ordering for products not in stock at your local store.

The package notes that the scallops were wild caught using trawls in FAO 41 in the southwest part of the Atlantic Ocean. The scallops were certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council.

The shrimp were farm raised, and the box states they were certified to have been responsibly farmed by the Aquaculture Stewardship Foundation.

The box also indicates that while every effort was made to remove shells, some small fragments may remain.

Nutrition information, ingredients, and baking directions. (Click to enlarge.)

Other than some maltodextrin, this contains mostly whole or easily recognizable ingredients such as heavy cream, whole milk, cheese, white wine, butter, flour, seasonings, seafood, and breadcrumbs, to name a few.

If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains milk, wheat, shrimp, and fish (saithe).

One box has two 1-pot servings (120 grams). One serving has 210 calories, 16 grams of total fat (20% DV), 10 grams of saturated fat (48% DV), 530 mg of sodium (23% DV), 5 grams of total carbohydrates (2% DV), 2 grams of total sugars, no added sugars, and 13 grams of protein.

This is cooked from frozen, and the box has directions for baking. The box states this is not suitable for microwave cooking.

To bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the carton and tray. Place the terracotta pots on a baking sheet and put in the preheated oven on a rack in the middle position. Bake for 30 minutes or until the internal temperature is 145 degrees or higher. Let stand for 2-3 minutes before serving.

After baking.

This was piping hot and slightly bubbly after exactly 30 minutes in my oven. It was a hit with my family. It features tender, sweet scallops and perfectly cooked shrimp all in a thick, gooey, cheesy sauce. The sauce has mostly a cheesy and creamy flavor and not necessarily a strong champagne flavor, so if you’re not a fan of champagne, don’t worry. This has a lot of sauce, but I didn’t necessarily feel like it skimped on the scallops and shrimp, although it’s not a large serving. There’s a light topping of breadcrumbs that browns nicely and adds just the right amount of crunch for a bit of texture.

This is delicious, but the servings are small and it’s an expensive dish — even if it does literally come with its own reusable dishes — so I won’t be buying this often. It would be great to buy a couple of these and save them for special occasions. In the meantime, it could be fun to try making my own version of this using seafood, cream, cheese, and seasonings. I could even make it in the same dishes.

The Verdict:

Specially Selected Shrimp & Scallops with Champagne Sauce is a product of the United Kingdom and features tender seafood in a thick, creamy, cheesy sauce topped with crispy breadcrumbs. If you like shellfish, this is really good and worth trying. As a bonus, each serving comes packaged in an oven-safe terracotta dish that can be reused for serving other foods, or they also make great pet food dishes.