Yield: 6 servings.
For the tomato-onion chutney:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 sweet onions, coarsely chopped
6 large fresh tomatoes, chopped, juice reserved
2 cloves garlic
¼ cup molasses
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch cayenne pepper
For the fried cube steak:
½ cup canola or vegetable oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
6 portions cube steak, or 3 pounds
2 tablespoons butter
For the tomato-onion chutney: Heat oil in a heavy-bottom pot or Dutch oven. Add onions and cook until they start to caramelize, stirring occasionally. Add tomatoes, tomato juice, and garlic. Cook on medium-low heat, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
Add molasses, vinegar, salt, and cayenne pepper. Simmer all ingredients for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Mixture will thicken as it cooks down. Chutney may be made a day in advance and refrigerated.
For the fried cube steak: Heat oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat.
Mix together flour, salt, and pepper.
Season both sides of steaks with salt and pepper. Dredge each piece in flour mixture, pressing firmly to coat well.
Add butter to pan. When butter has melted, fry steak in butter/oil mixture. Flip when sides are deep golden brown, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Cook the other side for approximately 1 minute.
Remove to a paper towel-lined plate. Spoon tomato-onion chutney over steak. Serve immediately.
To commemorate our 90th anniversary, we’ve compiled a time line that highlights the stories, contributors, and themes that have shaped this magazine — and your view of the Old North State — using nine decades of our own words.
From its northernmost point in Corolla to its southern terminus on Cedar Island, this scenic byway — bound between sound and sea — links the islands and communities of the Outer Banks.
Us? An icon? Well, after 90 years and more than 2,000 issues celebrating North Carolina from mountains to coast, we hope you’ll agree that we’ve earned the title.
After nearly a century — or just a couple of years — these seafood restaurants have become coastal icons, the places we know, love, and return to again and again.
