Savannah’s Mushroom Chicken is one of James “Ted” Martin’s favorite family comfort food recipes from his mom, Savannah Martin.

“This is mom’s chicken dish, that she used to cook for my dad and her dad and my father’s father. He loved it and I loved it, then I put my little twist on it,” Martin said. “What I added was the garlic and the seasonings. Instead of just cooking everything together, I fry the chicken a little bit first. I pan fry it.”

He remembers a lot of family dinner nights, when his mother cooked for his grandfather and great-grandfather. The dish was one of their favorites.

“Right at the end, when I’m pan-frying the chicken, I add the onions and garlic, so (the onions) don’t get too caramelized,” Martin said.

Martin recommends using a glass Pyrex casserole dish.

“There’s no sticking and it just seems to bake better,” he said.

He also suggested Spice Supreme Blackened Chicken seasoning, which he mixes up with the garlic powder and lemon pepper seasoning, before coating the chicken.

“Not too much, just a sprinkle. Use just enough to lightly coat each chicken breast,” Martin said. “When you put the onions on top, they bake a little bit more, and get a little bit caramelized. Caramelized onions, yeah, that’s the good part.”

It’s a fast preparation and a simple recipe that is ideal for the working parent, who might have to cook for a family on a work week.

Martin, who is known to his friends and family as Ted, works for himself doing carpentry, general home renovations, home improvements and handyman work in Wood and Lucas counties. He specializes in kitchen and bath remodeling. He gets most of his work through word-of-mouth personal recommendations and simple Craig’s list ads.

He found the pandemic shutdown was hard for business, but it’s been returning, even with inflation.

Martin began doing carpentry in shop classes, in junior high and high school.

“Everyone has a talent. It’s just about finding it,” Martin said. “I love fixing stuff. I love carpentry. Even in high school. When everyone else was making a birdhouse, or bread boxes, I built a 5-foot tall entertainment center, with doors and mitered edges.”

He compared home improvements and cooking to any other type of art.

“I work from the knowledge I’ve attained. It’s a certain feeling I get, when I’m done with it,” Martin said. “When I have someone that’s totally fed up with their bathroom and says ‘I can’t take it anymore. This is hideous.” I had one lady cry, she thought it was so beautiful. She couldn’t believe the difference.

“I love it. You take nothing and make it into something, or take something and make it into something even better. That’s something that not everyone can do.”

Martin has made his mother’s dish for many years.

“She passed in 1998. I made this often for my two kids, who are adults and on their own now,” Martin said. “She served it with regular long-grain white rice, with homemade rolls, mostly for my granddad, Otis Martin,”

His hope is that his kids will be making it for their kids and it will continued to be passed on to future generations.

Savannah’s Mushroom Chicken

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts

1 can 10 3/4 ounce Cambell’s cream of mushroom soup

1 can 10 3/4 ounce Cambell’s golden mushroom soup

1 large onion

3 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon blackened chicken seasoning

1 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Olive oil and butter for pan frying the chicken

Directions

Lightly pan fry unbreaded chicken breasts with onions and garlic, for a maximum of 10 minutes. The onions should be sliced, but no thinner than about a ¼ inch, and leave them in rings. It helps preserve the juiciness as they caramelize. The onions will just turn clear, but not yet caramelize.

Place in a Pyrex casserole dish. Coat the chicken breasts in the blackened chicken seasoning, garlic powder and lemon pepper seasoning. Smother the chicken with the soup and cover the chicken in the onions. They will caramelize as the dish cooks in the oven.

De-glaze the pan with ¾ of a soup can of water, “to get the bits,” and add to the casserole dish. Add another ¾ of a soup can of milk.

Bake the chicken through, for about 40 minutes, at 375 degrees F. If the chicken breasts are large, it may take as much as 5 minutes longer.

Serve with long grain white rice, with the soup over the rice, like gravy.

Savannah’s Mushroom Chicken

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts

1 can 10 3/4 ounce Cambell’s cream of mushroom soup

1 can 10 3/4 ounce Cambell’s golden mushroom soup

1 large onion

3 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon blackened chicken seasoning

1 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Olive oil and butter for pan frying the chicken

Directions

Lightly pan fry unbreaded chicken breasts with onions and garlic, for a maximum of 10 minutes. The onions should be sliced, but no thinner than about a ¼ inch, and leave them in rings. It helps preserve the juiciness as they caramelize. The onions will just turn clear, but not yet caramelize.

Place in a Pyrex casserole dish. Coat the chicken breasts in the blackened chicken seasoning, garlic powder and lemon pepper seasoning. Smother the chicken with the soup and cover the chicken in the onions. They will caramelize as the dish cooks in the oven.

De-glaze the pan with ¾ of a soup can of water, “to get the bits,” and add to the casserole dish. Add another ¾ of a soup can of milk.

Bake the chicken through, for about 40 minutes, at 375 degrees F. If the chicken breasts are large, it may take as much as 5 minutes longer.

Serve with long grain white rice, with the soup over the rice, like gravy.