Carnitas

Ingredients
3 lbs pork shoulder
1 onion, quartered
1 orange, quartered
4 cloves garlic
2 sprigs rosemary
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
1/2 cup white wine
[neutral oil, e.g. canola or grapeseed)

Directions

Cut the pork into chunks about 2 inches square. Season with salt and pepper. Place them snugly in the bottom of a dutch oven and nestle the garlic, onion and herbs in among the meat. Squeeze the orange juice over the meat and also tuck the orange pieces in the pot. Splash in some white wine.

(If the pork is very fatty, you will probably not need additional oil. If it's leaner, add 1/4 cup neutral cooking oil to the braising liquid.)

Simmer for 2-3 hours with the lid on, until the meat is fork tender. [Can also do this step in a 300F oven.] Remove the meat to another container and shred to desired size with forks. As you shred the meat, you can discard as much of the fattier bits as you prefer.

Remove and discard the solids (onion, orange, garlic, bay leaves) from the braising liquid . Skim the fat off. Restore the braising liquid to the shredded meat. Adjust seasoning.

Great as a filling for soft tacos, with a dollop of sour cream or avocado mash, fresh cilantro, quick pickled shallots for a little bite.

Stir-Fried Spot Prawns

Ingredients
1-2 lbs live spot prawns
1/3 cup canola oil
ginger, minced
scallions, minced
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp shaoxing cooking wine
1 tsp sugar

Directions
If you are not squeamish, trim the antennae off the live prawns. (If you are, you can just throw them untrimmed into the wok and it'll be fine.)

Heat a large wok. Add the oil, and toast the minced ginger and scallion a bit. Add the live prawns to the hot oil. Be ready to put the lid on immediately! They will jumps some.

Give it a jostle every 10 sec. When the jumping has subsided, remove the lid. Sauté until the prawns are curled up and have changed color. Add soy sauce, cooking wine and sugar. Continue stir-frying until the prawns are cooked, approx. 10 min cooking time total.

Banana Pancakes for one

Ingredients
1 ripe banana
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla (I swapped it out for Kahlua)
3 tbsp flour
splash of milk to thin

Directions

I used a ricer on the banana but you can also just mash it. Add baking powder and flavoring. Beat in the egg. Add flour, mix in. Thin with milk to desired consistency. (You want it to have body, but puddle out slightly when you spoon it into your skillet.)

Griddle on low in a neutral flavored oil, approx. 3 min per side, until golden brown.

Makes six palm-sized pancakes. The smaller size makes it easier to flip. I use a quarter cup measure as my scoop.

This recipe doubles easily. For larger amounts, know that there are 4 tbsp in 1/4 cup.

Variations: So I started looking at a two-ingredient pancake recipe (banana and egg) and I just couldn't bear to make pancakes without flour, which led me to this recipe. I happened to have milk today, but I also keep powdered milk on hand, which should also work. Probably also thinned out yogurt, non-dairy milks and even water could do in a pinch.

The source recipe claims that you can leave out the baking powder, but the price is some of the fluffy texture. The flour can be swapped with coconut flour for a gluten-free version. And the flavoring is entirely optional. I bet some citrus zest would be delicious too.