Broccoli pangrattato pasta recipe: don’t underestimate the humble box grater

In her fortnightly food column, cook and author Alice Zaslavsky shares her hacks for the often-overlooked kitchen utensil – with a speedy midweek recipe to match

It’s easy to be seduced by shiny Microplanes and whiz-bang food processors. But a bog-standard box grater – yes, the one languishing in the back of your kitchen cupboard – is your secret weapon to getting dinner on the table in record time.

The beauty of a box grater is that each side serves a purpose, but the clean-up’s all-in-one. On the wide sides, the big holes are best to coarsely grate vegetables to sweat down for soups and purees, or fry into fritters; while the finer teeth are good for garlic, ginger and for shaving parmesan into fluffy clouds.