Stew with blade steak

• 2 onions
• 2-3 stalks of rosemary
• olive oil
• 1kg blade steak
• 2 stalks of celery
• 200g pearl onions
• a generous dash of balsamic vinegar
• 500ml dark beer
• 500ml beef stock
• 300g mixed mushrooms
• leaves from a bunch of thyme
• steamed seasonal greens, to serve

Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Peel the onions and slice finely. Remove the leaves from the rosemary stalks, discard the stems and finely chop the leaves. Heat a glug of olive oil in an oven-safe casserole dish or Dutch oven, add the onions and rosemary and sauté until golden brown, about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer to a bowl (do not clean the pan just yet) and set aside.

Cut the blade steak into cubes. Put the pan back on the heat and brown the meat for about 5 minutes, allowing the juices to caramelise. Clean the celery and slice finely. Add to the meat, along with the pearl onions, and sauté for another 6-8 minutes. Pour in the vinegar, beer and stock, season and bring to a boil. Place a sheet of baking paper over the pan and cover with a lid; let the meat braise in the oven for about 2 hours.

Brush the mushrooms to clean. Heat a glug of olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat and fry the mushrooms and thyme for 10 minutes, until the mushrooms have browned and the moisture has evaporated. After 2 hours in the oven, stir the mushrooms and onion-rosemary mixture into the stew and return the stew to the oven for another 30 minutes. Serve accompanied by steamed greens.