[1] Chermoula, from North Africa, is spiced with cumin (photo © Off The Meat Hook).

[2] You can serve this papaya sauce with a dessert, or spice it up to serve with fish, and meats. Here’s the recipe from A Spoonful Of Yum (photo © A Spoonful Of Yum).

[3] Makhani is a gravy/curry flavored with chiles and spices. Here’s a recipe from My Food Story (photo © My Food Story).

[4] S’chug, also spelled zhug, a popular Yemeni sauce (photo © Anson Mills).

[5] Harissa has been gaining in awareness in the U.S. Here’s a recipe to make your own harissa paste, from Slow Burning Passion (photo © Slow Burning Passion).

Many of us eat global cuisine at restaurants, but why not dabble in them more often at home?

A simple path is to add an international-style sauce to chicken, fish and other everyday foods.

Flavor & The Menu, a resource for restaurant chefs nationwide, offers 12 global sauces for you to try.

They range from mild to spicy—and of course, you control the level of heat in your own kitchen.

We’re presenting these dozen dazzlers in a three-part article, so you can “digest” your thoughts—four sauces at a time.

Some are thin like marinade, others are pastes that can be thinned with broth, oil or water.
 
 
1. CHERMOULA

This bright herb sauce and marinade from North Africa has cumin as its main ingredient.

It is typically ground or blended into a paste with garlic, cilantro or other herbs, olive oil, salt and pepper.

While chermoula is often used as a sauce accompaniment to seafood in countries like Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, it can also shine in “American” cuisine:

 
 
2. FRUIT-BASED SAUCES

Fruit adds sweetness and texture to a sauce, helping to round out richer dishes and tame those with a bit of spice.

American and European recipes have long used berries, citrus and stone fruits to sauce both savory and sweet dishes.

Go global and make sauces from more tropical fruits—cherimoya, guava, mango, pineapple. Season them with spices from another culture—chile, curry, ginger, lemongrass, star anise…the combinations are endless.
 
 
3. MAKHANI

The name is new to us, but the concept is familiar: It’s a type of Indian curry (a.k.a. gravy).

Makhani is traditionally made by simmering green and red chiles, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, spices, nuts and seeds in plenty of butter, and then grounding or blending it into a paste.

Thanks to a growing interest in Indian cuisine, bright red makhani sauce can move beyond Chicken Butter Masala, Paneer Butter Masala, and egg and vegetarian Indian dishes, to flavorful fusion dishes.

Consider the sauce on:

 
 
4. MIDDLE EASTERN HOT SAUCES

As with most hot sauces used in the U.S., Middle Eastern hot sauces work across cuisines, providing lots of fusion opportunity.

Harissa is perhaps the best known, but take a look at s’chug, with bright, acidic notes from cilantro and green chiles.

Another hot sauce to watch is shatta, from Lebanon. It blends Kashmiri red chiles, lemon juice, garlic and chile powder.

Perfect with Middle Eastern dishes like shawarma, these sauces work equally well with tacos, wings and more.

In fact, how about a plate of tacos or wings with all three hot sauces for a fact-finding mission (i.e., which Middle Eastern hot sauce you like best)?
 
 
COMING UP

“If you’ve ever called a .GIF a Jif, we forgive you.”

So say Jif® peanut butter and from GIPHY, the world’s first and largest GIF search engine.

The two brands have teamed up to settle the ongoing debate over how to pronounce GIF, the acronym for Graphic Image File.

[1] Jif, making a point about GIFs (both photos © Jif).

[2] THere are 34 spoonfuls of creamy Jif in the jar.

[1] Mmm, Vegetable Lasagna; or, if you prefer, meat sauce (all photos © Michael Angelo’s).

[2] Have some Eggplant Parm, or the Chicken Parm if you prefer.

[3] Check the store locator to find your products of choice.

There are two comfort foods that we allow ourselves once a month—at a restaurant, at Whole Foods takeout and other specialty stores (Fairway, Citarella) where you’d think the store-made lasagna and eggplant parm would more than satisfy.

Mostly, they don’t. The sauce isn’t great, the seasoning is lacking, there isn’t enough ricotta, etc. etc.

Thank goodness Michael Angelo’s found us, and sent us samples of our favorites.

They are our new go-to’s!

 
We did add some dried oregano and fresh parsley, but were happy to eat all of the dishes without garnishing.

The entrées were more than cheesy: We didn’t need to grate any parmesan on top.

The only problem is, now that we’ve discovered Michael Angelo’s, the once-a-month rule may fall by the wayside.
 
 
AN EXTENSIVE LINE OF FAVORITE ITALIAN CLASSICS

There’s much more in the Michael Angelo’s line that we haven’t yet tried.

The line is so extensive, we could try something different every night for a month.

With food as good as your neighborhood Italian restaurant, Michael Angelo’s serves up all the classics from
Baked Ziti and Chicken Piccata to Manicotti and Shrimp Scampi.

Keep a few boxes in the freezer, grab a bag of salad and an optional loaf of Italian bread, and you’re good to go.

Head to the website to see the whole line; there’s also a store locator.

There are 11-ounce single-serve, 30-ounce family size and 44-ounce large family size; plus gourmet bowls, starters and more.

The 30-ounce family size serves two hungry adults—although we admit that on a particularly hungry night, we ate the whole thing.

(Don’t tell Mama.)

The food comes in microwavable trays, and if you prefer to use a conventional oven, you can remove the food and place it into your own oven-proof dish.

We tried both techniques, and for a time-saver, the microwave is just fine. The food was ready in little more time than it would have taken to preheat our oven.

On the other hand, the oven offers the opportunity to bake a loaf of garlic bread.
 
 
>>> CHECK OUT THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF PASTA IN OUR PASTA GLOSSARY<<<