After a cancer diagnosis, a family meatball recipe brings mother and son closer together

In 1965, Alphonse Pignataro, recently graduated from Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey), boarded a plane bound for Barbados. For the Elizabeth, New Jersey, native, this marked a moment of multiple firsts: his first jet flight, his first time leaving the United States and the first year of a two-year Peace Corps commitment. Just as he couldn’t know what he would find in Barbados, he couldn’t anticipate what he would miss from home, perhaps most notably his mother’s meatballs.

That initial year in Barbados introduced Pignataro to many new people, experiences and food, especially the deliciously fresh fish. Near the end of his first year, Pignataro’s mother, Rose, was diagnosed with cancer. The Peace Corps granted him compassionate leave to return home to spend time with her. He’d been feeling a bit homesick, so coming home gave him an opportunity to reconnect with family life.

Central to Pignataro’s family life were his mom’s homemade meals, based on traditional foods from Naples, Italy. He had grown up in a household “with little money,” and spaghetti and meatballs were in regular rotation as Wednesday night dinner and Sunday afternoon lunch. Although he had never cooked with his mother before, during his visit Pignataro asked her to share some of her recipes. Rose knew her recipes by heart and dictated them to her son. “I was her favorite child,” Pignataro says, “so she was glad to share them with me.”

[My mom’s meatballs are] savory, soft, with a little sweetness of raisins. They’re incredibly tender and absorb some of the tomato sauce.”

— Alphonse Pignataro

When his mother’s health seemed stable, Pignataro returned to Barbados and began cooking some of his mom’s specialties for his new Bajan friends: “I made spaghetti, meatballs and tomato sauce for the minister of education and the prime minister’s wife.” They really liked the meatballs, Pignataro remembers, but were squeamish about mixing the ingredients by hand as the recipe instructed.

Pignataro describes Rose’s Neapolitan-style meatballs as “savory, soft, with a little sweetness of raisins. They’re incredibly tender and absorb some of the tomato sauce.” Over time Pignataro has modified the recipe, preserving the core ingredients but adding pine nuts for crunch, soaking the bread in whole milk or almond milk instead of water, using sautéed instead of raw onions and increasing the amount of herbs. His mother fried the meatballs before simmering them in homemade tomato sauce. He prefers baking to frying in order to avoid greasy stovetop splatters.

Pignataro’s time in Barbados marked the beginning of a rich career of service. He has been a teacher; a baker; a chef; and, with his wife, Anita, a restaurateur. He was head of the Center City District, cofounded Freire Charter School and has, since 1996, been a family therapist specializing in addictions and working with groups, families, couples and individuals.

A love of food — cooking and sharing it with others — is a throughline. As the author Lin Yutang asked, “What is patriotism, but nostalgia for the foods of one’s childhood?” Looking back, Pignataro says that his Peace Corps years were “the beginning of [his] engagement with food.” Decades later, Pignataro still makes Rose’s meatballs, though not, he admits, “often enough.” He is happy to share this recipe for others to enjoy.

The Pignataro Family Meatballs

Makes 12 to 15 meatballs

3 cups 1-inch cubes day-old Italian bread
approximately 2 cups whole or almond milk, whichever you prefer, enough to moisten the bread
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1½ pounds ground meat (½ pound beef, ½ pound veal and ½ pound pork)
¾ cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
¼ cup finely chopped Italian parsley
¼ cup toasted pine nuts
¼ cup golden raisins
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a shallow bowl, soak the bread cubes in milk (you can substitute water if necessary) to cover for 20 minutes.
• Drain the bread and squeeze out the excess liquid.
• Sauté the chopped onion in the olive oil until it begins to soften, around three minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.
• Allow the mixture to cool completely.
• In a large bowl, combine the bread, ground meat, eggs, cooled onion and garlic mixture, Parmigiano, parsley, pine nuts, raisins, salt and pepper and mix with your hands until blended.
• Wet your hands and gently but firmly form the mixture into 12 to 15 large meatballs.
• Place the meatballs on the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and add the meatballs to your favorite tomato sauce. Simmer in the sauce for another 15 to 20 minutes until fully cooked.