So here’s the situation:I just returned home from TORC’s “Capturing Local Food Opportunities” conference in Port Perry Ontario and had one evening to prepare a local dish to bring to Ottawa’s Buy Local Club’s monthly pot-luck.Short on time and resources, I needed to think up something easy. Deviled Eggs.

Unfortunately, sticking to local-sourced ingredients turned out to be a bit more challenging than I thought.

Mayo – couldn’t find a local source. So tried to make my own. Error. No such luck. All the recipes I found required cream, lemons or lemon juice, vinegar, etc… no WAY was I ever going to be able to find & buy all that stuff from a local source here in Ottawa. Heck, I couldn’t even find the CREAM! Closest I came was some 2% milk from Cochrane’s Dairy (Russell, Ontario).

Paprika – Not even Herbs & Spice on Bank Street knew where their paprika came from. Couldn’t find a local bell pepper or red pepper of any sort and I certainly didn’t have the time to wait for it to dry out so I could grind it up on my eggs.

Salt – No local source. (I’m told I’m being a bit too picky here… it’s not Ottawa’s fault that there are no salt deposits around it)

What I did have:

  • Local Eggs (Spencerville, ON)
  • Portobello Mushrooms (Metcalfe, ON)
  • Milk (Russell, Ontario)

And the only local spiceish thing I had was:

  • Dried Hemlock needles (Williamsburg, ON) (not the poisonous plant, the evergreen tree)

1. So I fried the mushrooms with the needles (using a dab of likely-local corn oil) which gave them a dark slightly pineish flavour (surprisingly-good).
2. Boiled the eggs then cut & separated the yolks.
3. Beat the eggs slowly adding milk.
4. Stirred in the fried mushrooms.

Here is the result:

Deviled Egg

Mmmm. A very tasty egg. Remind me to make some paprika next summer when the red peppers are ripe! Lesson Learned: you can still make tasty deviled eggs without mayo, paprika or salt.