A grater is usually treated as a supporting tool — something you reach for at the end, over a finished plate. In these three dishes it does the actual work, and the texture it produces is the point.

Courgette fritters

Serves 2 as a light meal, 4 as a side.

Coarsely grate 2 medium courgettes. Toss with a teaspoon of salt and leave in a sieve for 15 minutes, then squeeze out as much liquid as you can — genuinely as much as you can, with your hands, over the sink. This step decides whether you get fritters or pancakes.

Mix with 1 beaten egg, 3 tablespoons of flour, a handful of finely grated hard cheese, chopped dill or mint, and black pepper. Fry spoonfuls in a little oil over medium heat, 2–3 minutes a side, until deep golden.

Eat with yoghurt and lemon. They are best straight from the pan and acceptable cold the next day.

Why the grater matters: coarse strands hold their shape and give the fritter structure. Blitzed courgette turns to purée and the fritters collapse.

Cacio e pepe

Serves 2. Four ingredients, and technique doing all the work.

Finely grate 80 g of pecorino — as fine as your blade allows. This is not optional detail: coarse cheese seizes into strings instead of melting into sauce.

Toast a heaped teaspoon of coarsely cracked black pepper in a dry pan for 30 seconds until it smells of pepper rather than dust.

Cook 200 g of spaghetti in less water than usual, so the water ends up properly starchy. Reserve a mugful before draining.

Off the heat, mix the cheese with a few tablespoons of the hot pasta water into a smooth paste. Add the drained pasta and the pepper, and toss hard, adding water a splash at a time until it turns glossy. Keep it off direct heat — heat is what makes it split.

Why the grater matters: fine cheese dissolves. Coarse cheese clumps. There is no way to fix it afterwards.

Winter salad: apple, celeriac, ginger

Serves 4 as a side. Four minutes, no cooking.

Coarsely grate half a celeriac and 2 firm apples. Finely grate a thumb of ginger and the zest of a lemon.

Dress with the lemon’s juice, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, a teaspoon of mustard, salt and pepper. Add the lemon juice quickly — it keeps the apple from browning.

Serve with roast pork, cold meats, or a strong cheese.

Why the grater matters: two blades in one dish. Coarse for body, fine for the ginger and zest, which need to disappear into the dressing rather than turn up as fibrous threads.

The pattern

In all three, the blade choice changes the dish rather than just speeding it up. Coarse gives structure and bite; fine gives things that dissolve — cheese into sauce, ginger into dressing, zest into everything.

Most of this works with a coarse grater and a fine one, or a box grater if you would rather keep it to a single tool.