Kelly Fields's New Orleans–Style BBQ Shrimp and Burrata Toast

At Chef Kelly Fields's restaurant and bakery, Willa Jean, guests feel right at home with low-country Southern dishes like fried chicken with biscuits and Tabasco honey, pimento grilled cheese, and corn-and-crab chowder. We got to sit down with this James Beard Award–winning chef to chat about some of her favorite recipes. Here's what she had to say about her BBQ shrimp and burrata toast.

"This is one of my favorite dishes to make, and thankfully, one of our most popular dishes at Willa Jean. The dish as a whole reflects who I am as a chef, and how we try and approach food at the restaurant. Like all good things in my life, it starts with baking, and good bread is the foundation of this dish being great, rather than just a traditional afterthought of a garnish. This dish hits home for me because the sauce smells and tastes the way I remember my backyard at low tide, growing up in Charleston, SC, and celebrates fully the bounty of the waters that surround us."

New Orleans–Style BBQ Shrimp and Burrata Toast

Active time: 40 minutes
Total time: 1 hour
Yield: Serves 6

Ingredients

For the Barbecue Sauce:
3 cups shrimp heads (some may be reserved from the shrimp used for the recipe)
1/3 cup (80ml) extra-virgin olive oil
3 cups (720ml) Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup freshly cracked black pepper
1/4 cup Creole seasoning, such as Zatarain's or Tony Chachere's
3 whole cloves
2 bay leaves
Juice of 2 lemons

For the Shrimp:
2 tablespoons (30ml) extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1 pound (450g) shrimp, shells on, heads removed and reserved for the barbecue sauce
2 1/2 cups (600ml) barbecue sauce
1 pound (450g) unsalted butter, diced
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

To Serve:
6 thick slices of your favorite sourdough bread
4 ounces burrata cheese
Soft, tender mixed greens
Raw beets, thinly sliced on a mandoline

Directions

1. For the Barbecue Sauce: In a medium sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Once oil is shimmering, add shrimp heads and sauté until bright red, about 3 minutes. Add Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, Creole seasoning, cloves, bay leaves, and lemon juice. Let mixture come to a simmer and continue simmering until it has reduced by half, about 15 minutes. Once it has fully reduced, remove from heat, strain through a chinois, and set aside.

2. For the Shrimp: In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, heat olive oil until shimmering. Add garlic and sauté until just soft, about 2 minutes, then add shrimp. Sauté shrimp for approximately 90 seconds, then add barbecue sauce and allow to simmer for about 4 minutes, until shrimp are almost fully cooked. Add butter, a little at a time, stirring to help it melt. Once butter has melted, reduce heat to low and taste for seasoning. Add salt and pepper as desired. Remove from heat.

3. Meanwhile, Make the Burrata Toast: Preheat broiler to high and set an oven rack in the middle position. Lightly oil and season both sides of each sourdough bread slice. Broil evenly for about 2 minutes on each side, until bread is lightly toasted. Remove from heat and smother one side of each slice generously with burrata. Place cheese toast back under broiler until bubbly and golden, about 1 minute.

4. Smother cheesy toast with shrimp and barbecue sauce. Top with greens and sliced beets, then serve.

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