There's nothing more quintessential New England winter than hearty stew, and this Red Eye Beef Stew is one of the best. Coffee is the base for this meal and it is the perfect liquid to stew the meat. And with all the different kinds of coffee out there, you could make this meal again and again and never have it taste the same.
The meat of choice here is a couple pound boneless beef chuck shoulder, and I typically make sure that is what I get. But the stew meat was already cut up and waiting to package when I got to the butcher counter, so I went with that. The stew cooks for a few hours, so pretty much any cut of beef is going to tenderize and soften, so I was ok with it. I also knew this meal was going to be a weeknight meal, and the idea of not having to cut up a roast was very appealing.
I would guess you probably have most of these ingredients just lying around your fridge or pantry, so it makes for an easy meal to prep. Stew meat, assorted veggies, onion, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, molasses, tomato paste, oil, salt, pepper, thyme, flour, coffee.... easy, but it comes together quite beautifully.
It starts by mixing the spices into the flour and using some of it to coat the stew meat. They are cooked in batches over medium heat so as to dear and brown the pieces. It's done quickly and with a small amount of meat so that the meat do not produce juices which will boil or steam the meat.
The cooked meat creates a pretty stuck on mess on the bottom of the pot, but that is ok. The coffee, when added later, will loosen all those pieces and it will become the secret flavoring for the stew.
After the meat is browned, place it into a bowl and let it rest aside while you soften and cook the onion and garlic. Once soft, the coffee goes in to loosen the brown bits and then all of the rest of the stew base (no veggies yet) gets dumped into the pot.
Bring it to a boil, and then reduce the heat, cover tightly - and let it simmer for an hour and a half. If you have time, let it go longer.
You'll need to stir it pretty frequently as the stew meat still has a tendency to want to stick and the coffee, although plenty for this dish, is not an overwhelming quantity, so the simmering stew is on the drier, thicker side. It's all good, though, so don't worry.
When the meat is stewed nicely and beginning to soften and be tender, dump in the cut potatoes, carrots and mushrooms. These need about 30-40 minutes if they are cut correctly, so pay attention when chopping these veggies to make sure they are about equal in size.
After about 30 minutes, add the sugar snap peas. These don't take as long to soften, but be alert - they will turn to absolute mush if left to simmer too long. After another 10-15 minutes, it's time to serve!
The stew will go nicely with fresh bread or rolls and holds really well for leftovers. It's not a gigantic batch, so it feeds my family one meal and a couple bowls of leftovers, so I have never froze it. There's not much in there to go wrong if you do freeze it, so feel free to save yourself time and cook a double batch, if you'd like, and freeze some for later.
This Red Eye Beef Stew is hearty, filling and very tasty. It's one of my family's favorites and I'm sure you will love it too. If you make a batch, makes sure to come back and let me know what you think.