I grew up in Philadelphia. Philadelphia, ‘The City of Brotherly Love’, the land where Eagles soar and Cheesesteaks come “with” or “without”; cradle of the revolution; home of the Liberty Bell, Rocky, WaWa, Hoagies, The Big Five and enough bad attitude to fill Franklin Field.

Being my home for the first twenty-one years of my life Philadelphia’s affect on how I perceive, friends, music, work, fun but specifically food has been profound. While cheesesteaks, soft pretzels, hoagies and pizza (better than New York by the way) get most of the press, the best food in Philadelphia is by far authentic rustic Italian food with recipes for different sauces handed down through the generations.

My family is of Welsh, Scottish, English and Irish decent, in that order. To that end I spent most of my childhood eating roasted stuff, with boiled stuff on the side; and while I love the leek, being the flower of Wales, and all of it’s virtues, did you ever try boiling one with a tomato? I still remember the first time I ate real home made Italian food and realized the depth of flavor that food could bear. It was that moment that made want to cook and still makes me want to cook.

This recipe for slow simmered rustic tomato sauce is not authentically Italian or Philadelphian but like a lot of food in this town has become authentically Californian Italian Philadelphian Provincial.

I make a variety of different tomato gravy but this one is combination of my friend Dave Amadio’s Mom in Philadelphia, a native born San Franciscan bohemian who used to make cookies for the Communist Party of California (who is also happens to be a first generation Sicilian) and an old Italian who happens to own and operate one of San Francisco’s great steak houses.

Again I will stress organic ingredients. Recipe makes about a 1-1/2 gallons of sauce, for us about 4 days supply but then again we put it on everything. Make sure you are going to be around the house for a while, as you should simmer this sauce for 6-8 hours.

For Tomato Sauce you will need:

- 3 cans 28 oz. La Primavera peeled tomatoes. You can use any organic pealed tomatoes in sauce or make your own. The tomatoes I have suggested can be found in high quality Italian Deli’s like A.G. Ferrari or Molinari’s if you are in S.F. There is also a boxed tomato called Pomi that is very good but does not come as whole tomatoes but chopped.
- 2 medium soup cut yellow onions.
- 1 clove finely chopped garlic. Not minced, it is good to get a decent sized piece garlic in the sauce once in a while.
- 1 cup of chopped shallots.
- 1 bunch of coarsely basil.
- O&CO Extra Virgin Olive Oil with basil. This stuff is great as it is not infused but cold pressed with basil. Any high quality EVOO will do.
- Kosher Salt (it is just better than regular salt).
- Fresh Cracked Pepper.

In a heavy bottomed soup pot add about 3 Tlbs of extra virgin olive oil on low heat. Continue on low heat and add garlic, shallots and onions in order letting each ingredient sweat for about a minute before adding the next aromatic.

After the aromatics have had a chance to sweat and breakdown every so slightly, add all 3 cans of tomatoes. Fill each can completely with water and add to pot. Place lid on pot and let come to an extremely slow boil and leave lid on for about 1 hour stirring every 10-15 minutes. Every time you stir from this point forward use the spoon to breakdown the whole tomatoes.

After an hour remove the lid and continue stirring every 10-15 minutes, remember to break down those tomatoes. The sauce should be at a high slimmer or lightest of boils. Let the sauce reduce for 2-3 hours.

After 3-4 hours chop the basil and add to the sauce. Don’t geek out on picking and rolling the leaves for the perfect chiffonade, just chop it up and toss in the pot. Let reduce until the sauce gets good and thick. Add salt and pepper to taste.

This is great base for many different dishes and utilizes some very basic ingredients. Tonight we eat polenta with turkey meatballs in tomato gravy.