Steak Tip Shepherd’s Pie with a Cheesy Cabot Crust

In partnership with Cabot Creamery Cooperative

While spring is indeed just around the corner, we continue to get cold, blustery weather here in Denver that makes comfort food a must-have. Despite the weather, it’s always grilling season at our house, so we wanted to share this recipe for one of our grilled comfort-food go-tos.

Shepherd’s Pie originated in the British Isles– debatable if it was Ireland or England– but given that St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner, it’s a great dinner option for the upcoming holiday.

We created this take on Shepherd’s Pie using steak tips instead of ground beef. Chock full of carrots and celery and onions, the rich gravy filling is then topped with extra cheesy mashed potatoes.

For our mashed potato topping (and topping on the mashed potatoes), we used a block of Cabot Creamery Cooperative’s Horseradish Cheddar and half a block of Colby Jack. The spicy natures of the horseradish cheese perfectly compliments the beef and the potatoes. And Colby Jack is a naturally softer cheese (read: it melts incredibly well) and we thought it would help us ensure that we got some melty cheese ribbons throughout the potatoes and topping. We mixed in about half the cheese into the mashed potatoes before covering the dish, and then sprinkled the other half of the block on top for good, cheesy measure.

We love using Cabot Creamery Cooperative’s cheeses in our cooking because Cabot is a co-operative owned by farm families throughout New England & New York and 100% of profits go back to the farmers. Not only is their cheese the BEST, but we know we’re supporting family farms with our cheesy indulgence.

Ingredients

• 1 pound steak tips
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 ribs celery, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 cup beef broth
• 2 tbsp flour
• salt, pepper and thyme to taste
• 1 block Cabot Horseradish Cheddar, shredded
• 1/2 block Cabot Colby Jack cheese, shredded
• 1 pound yellow potatoes, boiled, mashed and seasoned to taste

Tools

• Large cast iron skillet
• Wooden spoon or whisk
• Cheese grater
• Potato masher
• Traeger Grill heated to 375°

Making the Recipe

We started by browning the beef in our cast iron skillet. For this recipe, we heated up the Traeger Grill to at least 375° and let the pan get very hot before starting to cook. We cooked the beef in two batches, to allow the meat to brown and not steam. When it was browned on all sides, we transferred the meat to a plate and cooked the rest.

Depending on how much grease is left in the pan from cooking the beef, add a little butter and then saute the vegetables until crisp-tender. Stir in the remaining butter and let it melt, then stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until well incorporated and brown. This will be the base for the gravy in your recipe!

Once the roux is made, stir in the beef broth and the wine, then the tomato paste and the garlic and stir until well combined. At this point, we toss the beef back into the pot, stir in the frozen peas and allow the whole thing to simmer for about 15 minutes in the grill while we prep the potato topping.

For this recipe, we made fairly standard mashed potatoes– potatoes, butter, cream, salt and pepper, and then once they were creamy, we stirred in 1/2 a block of shredded Cabot Horseradish Cheddar Cheese and about 1/4 a block of Cabot’s Colby Jack cheese. Reserve the other half of the cheese for the end!

Once the beef mixture has reduced a bit, bring the pan into the kitchen carefully and dollop the cheesy potatoes all over the surface of the meaty gravy. Spread it out evenly, and then top with the remaining cheeses.

Back into our hot grill it went for about 20 minutes until the top was golden and melted. Allow to rest for about 5 minutes and then serve!