The basketball world mourned the tragic passing of Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojević on Wednesday.
January 2024
The Secret to a Thicker, Restaurant-Style Lasagna
Growing up, homemade lasagna was one of a variety of massive meals my mom would assemble to feed the three bottomless pits that were her children. But when I finally tried lasagna at a restaurant, I noticed some distinct differences—it was taller than my mom’s, for one thing, made up of discernible layers that didn’t slide apart—and there wasn’t any water pooling around it on my plate.
No shade on my mom or anyone else who likes their lasagna to be kind of like a pudding, but if you want to make a more restaurant-style lasagna at home, here are some tips to get you there.
Use a loaf pan for some height
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Restaurants serve stately slices of lasagna, and part of achieving that look is height. Unless you need a large casserole dish to make 12 to 16 servings of lasagna, try building it in a loaf pan. These are typically three quarters to a full inch taller than many casserole dishes. Using a loaf pan also eliminates the “middle piece,” that slice with no crispy edges. That slice is almost always the swampiest and the saddest, because there are no crunchy bits.
That’s because the loaf pan is easier to fill because its width is almost exactly two lasagna strips wide, which means some slight overlapping, but a lot less puzzling parts together. I find this improves the structure overall. If you’re worried about slicing and scooping out of a loaf pan, line the inside snuggly with buttered foil before assembly. Allow the foil to come up over the top as a handle for later. When the lasagna is finished and cooled, you can lift the whole thing out for slicing.
Go easy on the sauce
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
For cleanly stacking layers and easy cutting, don’t flood the dish with watery sauce. This is what leads to layers sliding apart—the pasta noodles are hydroplaning every time you go to cut a bite. Instead, make a “dry” sauce for layering. If you’re using meat, break it apart into fine chunks, brown it, and season it. Then only add enough tomato sauce to coat the meat completely, but not to make a soup. (Lasagna soup is for another time.) Layer the sauce in a thin but complete layer before adding the next set of noodles. Not only will the structure be more stable, but the sauce will be way more meaty. If you love tomato gravy and you’re wondering where the rest of it will go, there’s a trick for that too.
A clever technique in restaurant plating is to apply the sauce underneath. Warm up the loose tomato sauce (no need to make it “dry” anymore) in a small pot. When you’re ready to serve the lasagna, spoon some sauce onto a plate. Place the tall, stable slice of lasagna right on top.
Reduce the moisture
Related to the sauce tip, try to reduce moisture in general. Under high heat and long bake times fresh cheeses and vegetables will release water. This water is free-roaming, it’s not emulsified or captured in any other component, so when you serve it the water pools up on your plate or in your casserole dish.
Instead of using fresh mozzarella, try using the low-moisture variety. Skip the ricotta cheese. If you think you’ll miss the creaminess, try layering in a béchamel sauce. Or if you can’t live without it, press the ricotta with paper towels beforehand to remove the excess water. Any vegetables you want to mix in should have a quick sautée on the stove to cook them and that will take out quite a bit of extra water. It’s also a valuable opportunity for seasoning the vegetables, which should never be underestimated.
Cool it before slicing
Not only is this step crucial for clean slices, but a bite of piping hot lasagna is always followed by three or four days of deep regret. Allowing the lasagna to cool down to around room temperature will allow the fats in the cheese and meat to firm up again. This is especially helpful if you’re lifting the whole loaf of lasagna out of the pan with the foil liner. When you slice it to serve there will be much less squishing, yielding cleaner slices with sharp edges. (While it isn’t necessary to delay your lasagna to the next day, fridge-cold leftovers will be even easier to cut through, and you can reheat it in the microwave after it’s sliced.)
After slicing, if you want the tops of your lasagna servings to be melty, you can line up the slices on a parchment-lined baking sheet and give them a quick broil. Just a minute or two to reheat the tops before plating. The cheese will be toasty and the rest of the lasagna will remain pleasantly warm. The roof of your mouth will thank you.
Warriors vs. Jazz game postponed after coach’s medical emergency
The NBA has postponed the Warriors vs. Utah Jazz game scheduled for Wednesday night after a Warriors assistant coach suffered a medical emergency.
Warriors assistant dies after suffering heart attack
Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojević has died after suffering a medical emergency in Salt Lake City, Utah, the team announced Wednesday.
Dejan Milojevic, mentor to Nikola Jokic, dies after heart attack at Warriors dinner in Utah
Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojevic has died after suffering a heart attack during a team dinner in Utah. The 46-year-old Serbian mentored Nuggets star Nikola Jokic.
You’ll Soon Be Able to Google Search by Drawing a Circle
Samsung announced many interesting products and features at its latest Galaxy Unpacked event (including the Galaxy S24 series) but one of the more impressive developments isn’t actually unique to the Galaxy brand itself. The feature, Circle to Search, was developed in partnership with Google, which means it’ll live on Google phones, too.
What is Circle to Search?
In a nutshell, Circle to Search is a new way to search for anything without switching apps. To activate the feature, long press on the home button or navigation bar (if you have gesture navigation enabled). Then, when you see something on your screen that you want to look up, draw a circle around it with your finger, and your phone will return search results. For example, you could use Circle to Search to find an article of clothing you might have seen in a YouTube video, or get more info about a dish in a recipe you’re browsing online.
You don’t have to just circle the item you’re looking to search, either: You can also highlight it, scribble over it, or tap on it. As part of Google’s AI upgrades to search, you can search with text and pictures you’ve circled at the same time using multi-search. Google says that the Circle to Search gesture works on images, text, and videos. Basically, you’re able to find anything and everything using this feature.
These results appear inside the app you’re currently using, so you don’t need to interrupt what you’re doing to search. When you’re done, you can simply swipe the results away to get back to your previous task.
When does Circle to Search launch?
Circle to Search is set to launch globally on Jan. 31 for select premium Android smartphones like the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro and the newly announced Galaxy S24 series. The feature will be coming to more Android devices at a later date.
The Google Pixel 8 Is $150 Off Right Now
The Google Pixel 8 came out in the late fall of 2023, sporting some impressive features, a powerful camera, and generally setting a new bar for what to expect from a mid-range phone. Right now, you can get the unlocked 128GB Google Pixel 8 for $549 (originally $699) on Amazon or Best Buy for the same price it was on Black Friday. The unlocked 256GB version also has the same $150 discount, bringing it down to $609 (originally $759) on Best Buy and Amazon.
Products to consider:
The Pixel 8 has a ton of cool features, like AI-enabled photo editing, audio editing, live translation, and more. Some of my favorite features include the “Audio Magic Eraser,” which gets rid of distracting sounds in videos; and the “Best Take” feature, which lets you pick the best face from a series of photos. (No more ruined pictures because one person blinked.) And if you happen to be caught in the rain, its IP68 rating will give you water and dust resistance. You’ll also get the newest Google-made chip, the Google Tensor G3, and seven years of guaranteed software support, meaning you’ll be getting updates until 2030.
Speaking of software updates, one of my favorite perks of getting a Pixel phone is the new feature drops that occur every few months. (The latest one happened in December.) Google also does a great job updating its security with new updates every so often.
What’s perhaps the biggest downside of this deal is passing up the Pixel 8 Pro, which is a better phone, albeit a more expensive one. (We summarized the differences between the two phones previously, if you’re unfamiliar.) If you can live without the better camera and the extra fancy features, the Pixel 8 is still a great choice at its current price.
Pacers pay steep price to acquire All-Star Pascal Siakam
Yahoo Sports senior NBA writer Vincent Goodwill reacts to the Toronto Raptors trading Pascal Siakam to the Indiana Pacers for multiple players and first-round draft picks and discusses how this trade is a win for the Pacers.
Dejan Milojevic: Golden State Warriors assistant coach dies aged 46
Golden State Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojevic dies at the age of 46 after suffering a heart attack, the NBA team confirms.
Report: Mavericks ‘linked’ to potential Wiggins trade
The Dallas Mavericks reportedly are “linked” to a potential trade for Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins.