Sarah Butler on finding simple dishes that make life easier
As an ambassador for SuperValu's The Difference is Real campaign, Sarah Butler spoke to RTÉ Lifestyle to shine a light on the value of home cooking and finding the right recipes for your family.
One of six children, and hailing from a long line of butchers, Sarah Butler says she had a childhood filled with delicious food.
"I always loved to cook," she told RTÉ Lifestyle. "My parents were both very good cooks and bakers. Dad was a fourth-generation butcher, so he was very much into his meat, and we had a B&B growing up, so mam was always cooking meals."
Not only that, but her grandmother, who lived next door, was a constant feature of the kitchen - baking and cooking on a near-constant basis.
Despite this inherited love for food, though, the Mayo woman pursued a career in digital media and only tried her hand at cooking professionally when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived on Irish shores.
Working in digital design for over 19 years, Butler specialised in creating bespoke wedding stationery, but when social distancing put a stop to ceremonies, she found her creative spark in the kitchen.
"I started to show stuff online and it just blew up," she laughs. "I'm sitting here four years later and thinking, how did this happen?".
Now a best-selling author and food influencer, she's built a loyal community of over 240,000 followers by sharing easy, delicious recipes and everyday kitchen tips that help families cook with confidence.
The trick, she says, is to keep things simple: "Some people have to learn from scratch, and they're afraid of food, and afraid of cooking, and they just haven't the confidence."
Recipes that always go down a treat with her followers are those that are filling, cost-efficient, and have the ability to sneak healthy ingredients into their children's diets.
"I do a hidden veggie pasta sauce that can be used as a soup or a pizza base or a sauce," she explains. Homemade chicken goujons and sausage rolls are another hit, and Butler says they're much better than buying the frozen alternative.
"They're actually really easy to make," she promises. "It's just stuff that the whole family will eat. When you've got three kids and 20 minutes until the dinner needs to be on the table, you just want to make something that is wholesome and that everyone will eat."
Speaking of children, Butler says that although her teenagers remain completely unimpressed that she's on the telly, they do seem to have picked up some of her cooking prowess.
"They're picking stuff up unbeknownst to me," she laughs. "They're not racing into the kitchen to make cakes, they just eat them, but they're both well able to cook. That's the most important thing to me, that they're able to go out into the world and make things with simple ingredients."
The big winners in Butler's own kitchen are simple additions that deliver an extra kick of flavour to classic dishes: "If you're cooking a ham, throw in an orange and cloves, a spoon of sugar and a Bay leaf," she suggests.
As well as being a big believer in meal prep, and planning dinners around what's already in the fridge, Butler's biggest tip is to take an extra few seconds to taste what's in the pot before serving it up.
"We're always rushing," she muses. "We don't test our food anymore because we're on our phones or we're eating in the car. Just try and slow down and enjoy the process. Close your eyes and take a taste of that soup as you're making it."
If in doubt, try adding a little seasoning to your meals, whether it be a touch of salt and pepper or a dash of paprika and garlic.
Most important of all, though, Sarah stresses, is to go easy on yourself.
"The bar is so high, everybody is so bloody perfect online now, you know? I do my batch cooking on a Sunday, and then I get an Indian takeaway," she laughs. "I've made a load of food, but I don't have to cook that night - and it's great."
"Don't be hard on yourself," she continues. "Start small and grow that confidence."
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