u/PineappleBliss2023

I am not a dumb person but I am an idiot in the kitchen.

I never learned to cook. My mom was a single mom who cooked by browning hamburger meat and added it to boxed Mac and cheese or popping in a stouffers lasagna.

Unfortunately, my mother is now disabled and we primarily ate out for a while but it’s expensive and makes my body feel bad so I’ve been trying to learn to cook for us and it’s been a *process*. Yesterdqy I burned garlic so bad it stuck to my non stick pan. This is all to give you an idea of how basic my cooking skills are.

I want to make *good* food. I want to make food that is satisfying to eat and use good ingredients. A lot of recipes call for freshly grated cheese.

I hate grating cheese. I was recently gifted a rotary cheese grater that suctions to the counter and it has greatly improved the grating experience. The one problem I am still stuck with is when I grate the cheese a decent amount of it misses the plate I am trying grate onto and ends up on the counter. How does one avoid sprinkling the counter with rotary grated cheese?

Also, I have learned that onions add a lot of flavor but I hate the texture. I read a tip that grating the onion into a paste gives you the flavor without the squishy onion pieces. I tried this today and I have never regretted a life choice so quickly and so passionately. My eyes still itch.

The tl;dr of it all is I’m looking for suggestions for how to grate cheese neatly and also how to add onion flavor without squishy onion pieces.

Thanks in advance.

This is the recipe I followed tonight for baked spaghetti to satisfy posting requirements:

FOR THE SAUCE:
1 medium yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound lean ground beef
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (32-ounce) jar marinara sauce (about 3 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup water
FOR ASSEMBLY:
8 ounces low-moisture mozzarella cheese (about 2 cups shredded)
2 ounces Parmesan cheese (3/4 cup freshly grated or 1/2 cup store-bought grated)
12 sprigs fresh parsley (about 1/3 medium bunch)
1 (15-ounce) container whole-milk ricotta cheese
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 pound dried spaghetti