Lunar New Year is truly my favorite time of year and has always felt much more renewing than January 1st. Coincidentally it aligned with the Super Bowl this weekend, and I would consider preparing for our LNY feast as my personal Super Bowl. It’s like Thanksgiving levels of food (but dare I say, with better food?) with the cheer and gifts of Christmas, but the relative calmness of it no longer being the holiday season. Normally, we host an cozy dinner with some friends to celebrate the holiday, but this year wanted to go a little bigger and treat the occasion like a house warming party since our renovation is finally over. Reuben and I welcomed 50 of some of our dearest friends to our home on Saturday and it was such an amazing and whirlwind of a time. I had prefaced our invites with the feast being more like an open house style and hoped groups would show up in waves throughout the afternoon… but of course everyone showed up at the same time. It went from 0 to 100 real quick, but thankfully the sun was shining for people to hangout in the garden (there were children climbing in the trees at some point!) and our freezer was stocked with plenty of dumplings and spring rolls.
At one moment, I walked to the back of our yard and took in all the happy faces and groups of friends from different pockets of life mingling together. This. This was exactly what I imagined our home to be like the first time we toured it in 2020, during a time when we were hiding away from everyone, keeping distance, and feeling unsure of when the next time we’ll all be together again. It feels so good to bring people together, to share food and culture. It’s a nice reminder that this is why I love to cook so much.
I think by next year I’ll be recovered enough and feel ready to host another LNY feast on this level, but maybe we’ll do it potluck style instead (oh! from recipes in my second cookbook even!). In the last few days I’ve cleaned, rested, binged One Day on Netflix, and barely cooked a thing besides oatmeal. Then I realized it’s Valentine’s Day and we all deserve an easy, sweet treat this week.
I was looking around our kitchen and there’s currently a surplus of lucky oranges on the counter leftover from LNY. In the pantry was some white chocolate and the last of my matcha powder. Something about the combination of juicy in-season oranges, white chocolate, and matcha sounded absolutely incredible to me. I was browsing some strawberries at the market earlier and they just looked a little sad, even for California standards. Why dip out of season strawberries in chocolate when there’s bright and gorgeous citrus right in front of us?!
Let me tell you, these Matcha White Chocolate Dipped Oranges are insanely good. They are bright! juicy! refreshing! I think even better than chocolate covered strawberries. They were also so easy and fast to make. You can run to the store on your lunch break or after work to grab all the ingredients and then spend 15 minutes at home dipping your orange segments into chocolate and enjoy a truly special treat. Fun fact, when I was in high school I worked at a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. I guess you could consider that my first “food job”. I spent hours dipping fruit and cookies in chocolate, assembling chocolate boxes, and portioning out fudge. Fun times! My love for dipping things in chocolate hasn’t waned since.
Hope you have a great week and happy Valentine’s day if you’re celebrating! Remember that you don’t need a special occasion to treat yourself, because you always deserve it. Especially a platter of chocolate dipping oranges 🥰
Matcha White Chocolate Dipped Oranges
(makes about 20 dipped orange segments)
materials:
6 ounces white chocolate, chopped or broken into pieces
1 teaspoon food grade matcha powder
2 sumo oranges, peeled and segments separated
toasted white sesame seeds, for topping
flaky sea salt, for topping
steps:
Line a quarter sheet pan or plate with parchment paper.
Place the chocolate in a heat proof bowl and melt over a double boiler (bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water). Alternatively, melt in the microwave by zapping in 15 second increments, stirring in between, until melted (microwaving in increments helps prevent the chocolate from burning). Add the matcha (sift through a mesh sieve if you have one to prevent clumping) and mix with a flexible spatula until evenly green and smooth.
Transfer the chocolate into a small mug or cup. Dip half the orange segment into the chocolate and shake off any excess. Place the dipped orange on the lined sheet pan and repeat with remaining segments.
Top each slice with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and flaky salt. Transfer the orange slices to the fridge until the chocolate sets, about 15 minutes.
Serve immediately or transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge up to 2 days.