My first million...

Now as much as I wish this was in cash (my total earnings from TikTok so far has been a grand £2.33), I was very proud of this particular achievement.

My version of this Tuscan chicken was the 8th video (8 has always been my lucky number) I posted on my account, having received little to no attention before that. It was a cold, rainy November morning as I strolled to Sainsbury's for my daily lockdown outing.

I'd seen a Tuscan chicken online, fancied giving it a go and that was about the only thought I'd put into it. I came home, made the video, edited it and did my voiceover as I always do. I posted it online and then proceeded to do fuck all.

As the hours passed lying on my bed endlessly watching Netflix, I noticed that the views were starting to climb. Previously none of my videos had passed 1,500 views with the best one receiving a mighty 22 likes.

After 3 or 4 hours this one was now way beyond that, pushing 6000 views and 200 likes. I felt like a child on Christmas, finally something I had created was catching some attention. I jumped around the room in glee and then watched the views rise with all my attention for the rest of the evening. The video tailed off at about 8000 views by the end of the night, I was ecstatic.

I woke the next morning filled with motivation and skipped to the shop to get the ingredients for my next video. As I was filling my basket I received a text from the lady of the house, Cynthia, saying that the video had picked up again and had broken 10,o00 views (holy shit!), a milestone I could only dream of days earlier.

What happened next was something I could have never foreseen, by the end of the day the video was on 100,000 views and didn't stop until it reached 1.1 million.

Now to be realistic, this is no crazy achievement. Videos are viewed millions of times every day on TikTok. However when you manage to make one yourself, from your kitchen whilst winging a recipe you can't be bothered to look up again, it does feel quite special.

This is what got the ball rolling for me and no doubt the key video in building my following that sits at 42,700 today.

You can watch the video here and the recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:

- 3 cloves of garlic

- 1 red chilli (totally optional and far from traditional. I just like that added kick)

- 250g cherry tomatoes

- 1 handful of spinach

- 1 handful of chopped parsley

- 1 teaspoon of oregano

- 2 chicken breasts

- 300ml of double cream

- half a cup of water

- 2 teaspoons of tomato paste

- 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce

- Grated parmesan

Method:

Begin with finely chopping your garlic and chilli, then slice your tomatoes in two. Get your pan on a medium heat with olive oil and sear the chicken breast for 4/5 minutes until golden brown and crispy. Flip and do the same to the other side.

Remove the chicken from the pan and add a knob of butter with your garlic, chilli and tomato paste (I added the tomato paste later on and got rinsed in the comments - always cook out your tomato paste!) and cook down for a minute. Then add your tomatoes, sprinkle in your oregano and cook until they're soft. Add the spinach, let it steam for a minute or so until it reduces and mix into the tomatoes.

Add a half cup of water and your cream and stir well. Then re-add the chicken to the sauce with the Worcestershire sauce and cover. Simmer for 10 minutes or until your chicken breast is cooked through.

Take off the heat, throw in your chopped parsley and grate parmesan on top and there you have it. This can be served with rice, pasta or in my case; a loaf of crusty bread and eaten straight from the pan!