A weed is a plant out of place and some weeds are edible, such as dandelion greens. Last night, we tried purslane as suggested in the August issue of Sauce Magazine. Purslane is everywhere, so eating it seemed like an efficient way to weed control. Although I’ve seen purslane raw in salads, we deep-fried the tender shoots on the theory that any food tastes better when cooked in fat and sprinkled with salt. They were consumed in a minute. Four hours later, those of us who ate the purslane were repeatedly sick throughout the night. Our whole bodies ached. The other unadventurous souls who limited themselves to the onion rings remained healthy. Today, we are in slow recovery. Dry toast is the only appetizing food.
Note to self: stick to the green beans in the garden and avoid the miscellany greens. Perhaps there are good reasons for our salads to be made out of spinach than purslane!

So instead of providing the recipe for purslane, here is a better choice:

Lord of the Onion Rings

for the batter:

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup dark beer
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon salt

Whisk together the ingredients.

for the coating:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups potato starch
• 4 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons hot paprika
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Mix together the ingredients.

To assemble:

• 3 large onions, peeled and cut crosswise into wide rings
• vegetable oil for deep-frying
• fine salt for sprinkling

Heat the oil to 375 degrees. In batches, dip the onion rings in the wet batter, then flour, then batter, and then flour. Place in the fryer and cook until well-browned. Drain and sprinkle with salt.