SHELLS
1 cup water
1/4 pound (1 stick) butter
1 cup flour, sifted
3 eggs, room temperature
Pinch salt
In a saucepan, bring water to the boil and add butter. When melted, add flour all at once and stir vigorously with wooden spoon, until mixture easily leaves sides of pan and forms a ball. Add 1 egg at a time to the dough, stirring each egg into mixture until blended together smoothly.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease a large cookie sheet. Using a tablespoon and a rubber spatula, drop mixture onto sheet 1 spoonful at a time, making a swirl at top of each one. Put in freezer for 10 minutes, then bake for 40 minutes, at 400°F. Lower oven temperature to 325°F and bake shells 10 minutes more. Turn oven off and let shells set stand in oven for an additional 10 minutes.
Remove puffs from oven, place them in a large brown-paper bag, and let cool. When cooled, cut a small slit in their sides. Fill a pastry bag with custard (see following recipe) or any filling of your choice, and pipe mixture into shells. Makes about 12 shells.
CUSTARD FILLING
3 egg yolks, well beaten
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups milk, scalded
In a double boiler, combine beaten egg yolks, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Gradually stir milk. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, making sure mixture does not stick to bottom of pot. Stir until mixture coats spoon. Remove from heat, place in a glass or ceramic bowl, and cool in refrigerator. Makes 3 cups filling.
I had left the restaurant with about a $15,000 profit. I loaded my clothes into my car and took off. I had bought a new Cadillac Brougham while I was in the restaurant business. Now I had to worry about paying $550 a month for the car. I didn’t know where to go. I rode around the west coast of Florida, trying to figure out where to make my next temporary home. I rented a well-secured apartment in Tampa. I was very apprehensive about my safety, so I had to watch where I lived. The rent was high, but $800 a month, with good security, wasn’t much to pay to be safe. They wanted first, and last months rent plus security, and on top that a $300 damage deposit. Well, there was nothing I could do. I’d asked for this type of living when I agreed to help the government fight organized crime. I stayed at that place until I no longer could afford it. I made a drastic mistake. I left myself without funds to maneuver and scheme. I left myself no alternative; I had to go to work.
I used to cook for some nice ladies once in a while at the complex where I lived, so they asked me to cook for them one more time before I left. They offered to pay me for my troubles. I told them it would be my pleasure. I asked them to pick up the groceries and said I would prepare whatever they wanted. When they told me the bill of fare, I put together a list of what I needed in the kitchen.