Food - Drink
The Frittata That Changed Chef Nancy Silverton Forever
By ELIAS NASH
From opening the La Brea Bakery in 1989 to cooking at Los Angeles' Michelin-starred Osteria Mozza, Nancy Silverton has been leaving her culinary mark on California for quite some time. Silverton has drawn inspiration from her experiences of dining all over the world, but the one meal she said changed her life is the frittata.
The word “frittata” is derived from the Italian word for ‘fried,’ and although the egg dish is baked in an oven, the version Silverton tried was closer to the real definition. According to an article Silverton wrote for The Los Angeles Times, she spent most of her life disliking frittata for being too “dry and spongy,” until she ordered one at London’s Toe Path Cafe.
Silverton was pleasantly surprised when she was served a thin circle of fluffy eggs resembling an open-faced omelet. After experimenting with her own versions of the dish, Silverton blew away the competition at the Best Dish World Championship in 2022 with her “panicale frittata”, topped with ham, artichokes, and cheese.