MING: This week on Simply Ming, it's going to truly be East meets West.

I'm joined by chef Akhtar Nawab from New York, but he has restaurants all over the country.

He just won the Bib Gourmand from the Michelin Guide in 2018.

Today, we'll both be cooking with mushrooms.

He'll be making a hearty mushroom Bolognese, with a homemade Ligurian corzetti pasta.

This liquid is going to be key to making this dish have all that flavor.

MING: And I'll be making a wok-stirred maitake mushroom with scallion noodle cake and a tomato fondue.

You can smell those chilis coming off.

MING: And we'll be kicking this off with a house-made Negroni.

And if you've seen this show, you know, normally we sit down at a table and eat it later, but this is so good I'm eating it now, dude.

It's coming up right now, right here, on Simply Ming.

♪ ♪ MING: Akhtar, nice to have you here in the kitchen.

Thank you for having me.

MING: Dude, so excited!

Can't wait to try your dish, but can I make you a cocktail first?

I would love that.

MING: All right, so we're going to make a classic Negroni.

If you could just, here, ice me here first?

It's three ingredients: there's a good gin, a good amaro bitter, and then sweet vermouth.

Easiest recipe ever, it's one to one to one-- you can't forget it.

That's perfect, sir.

I love Negronis.

MING: Then, yeah, ice me there, and then give me two lemon flags, if you don't mind.

So, what we're going to do, for two of us, we're going to do two ounces of each.

So this is the amaro, which is a beautiful color.

Apparently, this is from the 20th century.

An Italian named Negroni created this cocktail.

Which I thought... which is, you know, is interesting because gin, at least for me, I always think that gin is a British thing, right?

But, as you know, our buddy José Andrés, they drink more gin in Spain than I could ever imagine.

It's... MING: It's unbelievable.

It's like a national cocktail there.

The gin and tonic, as he calls it, right?

Right, right, perfect.

MING: All right, so this is the gin.

so, one to one to one.

I love how aromatic this gets.

MING: Right?

It's unbelievable.

And then you give it a good proper chilling.

Some people claim 50 times, some people claim 100 times.

Well, what do you think?

MING: Oh, I like to do 39.

39's good.

MING: 37, 38, 39.

36 for me, but... MING: Okay, ice me down here, please, chef.

Very good.

Awesome.

So always fresh ice.

We'll just give this a good little...

Such a simple drink.

Look at that color, though.

MING: Right?

It's great.

MING: Then, a little lemon flag, give it a twist, like that.

Chef, here's to you.

Thank you.

Cheers.

MING: Cheers.

The only problem is, we're not in Italy.

Perfect, so refreshing.

MING: Awesome.

Yeah, it's so good.

MING: Shall we cook?

Let's cook.

MING: Let's cook.

MING: All right, Akhtar, what's your dish?

So, we're making a mushroom Bolognese... MING: Right.

With a corzetti pasta.

MING: Cool, so what can I do?

So, if you could start with the soffritto, or the mirepoix, we're going to start with the carrots and then process these... MING: So, buzz it all?

Yeah, exactly.

I'm going to start with the mushrooms here.

MING: Awesome.

I'll tell you what's really interesting, is you're Indian, cooking Italian.

So how does that come about?

Right.

Well, I'm also born in Milwaukee, raised in Kentucky.

MING: So you were raised in Kentucky.

So do you cook, do you cook Southern food, too?

So, we stick, you know, in my restaurants, we sneak a lot of that kind of Southern influence in there.

That's great.

MING: You do?

So we do quite a bit of that, yeah, here and there.

MING: Why don't you go through your history?

Because you, you have worked in some of the best restaurants and chefs, right?

Right.

MING: In San Francisco, right?

Worked for La Folie after that, and that was, obviously, as you know, a very intense, intense place.

MING: Ah, Roland Passot, he's one of the best.

Oh, man, that kind of lesson is, is something that I think everyone needs to have.

MING: Yeah.

I love this.

This is great, using a food processor to get it to here, because you don't care about the shape and the size, right?

No, because... MING: As long as it's about the same size.

Yeah, so, the idea for the soffritto is that we want, we want to get this... We want to get this... A little bit of olive oil, too, don't forget, here.

MING: Right.

The base for this... MING: A little bit.

That was a one, one tablespoon per quarter-cup.

This is going to feed a lot of people, yeah.

MING: I hear you-- no, I'm just kidding, chef.

Now everyone knows olive oil is good.

MING: Love it, okay.

So the interesting thing about this soffritto is that this is going to start to break down and thicken the sauce.

MING: Right.

And it's going to allow all of those vegetables to stick to the pasta.

MING: Right.

So that every bite you get, is going to have this rich flavor, yeah.

MING: Has that sauce.

That's a trick no one really knows about.

MING: I love this.

So this is a, really is a country-style dish, right?

It is.

You know, obviously, as you know, start, start this with a little bit of seasoning.

MING: Right.

Helps that liquid come out.

MING: Correct.

And then this, this is going to just kind of here stew away.

MING: All right, so how long do you cook that soffritto for?

It takes a little while.

It's going to take about ten, 15 minutes.

MING: Okay.

Get that going.

MING: And then you add the mushrooms?

And then we're going to add the mushrooms, but we want to start with this, this sachet.

MING: Okay.

Which is kind of critical.

So... MING: And that's thyme and rosemary, obviously.

Thyme and rosemary, yeah.

It's good if it's in the wintertime, and you want to use sage-- sage works really well.

MING: Right.

If you're feeling adventurous, you can look for pineapple sage.

Which is, which is, like... MING: I love.

You like that, right?

MING: Yeah, it's so exotic.

It gives it such, like, a, almost a sweet flavor, although it's going to, it's going to still bring that earthiness and that wintertime agenda to your dish.

It's really interesting.

So this is going to keep cooking here.

MING: So let this go for about eight to ten minutes, so it can sweat down.

Yeah, this is going to cook down.

MING: Then we add mushrooms?

This is one of the few times we're going to have a lid on here, so we can get this thing moving and steaming.

MING: We're going to let this go for eight minutes, and when we come back, we're going to add the mushrooms.

Perfect.

MING: Fantastic.

MING: All right, so now we have some dry shiitakes.

Correct.

So these dry shiitakes have been soaking in regular boiling water.

MING: Okay.

We're going to strain it.

MING: Okay.

We're going to reserve that liquid, because that's essentially our mushroom stock now.

MING: Oh, yeah, fantastic.

We do this all the time at Blue Dragon.

Awesome.

And then this liquid is going to be the key to making this dish have all that flavor, right?

MING: Squeeze it out?

Yeah, press it down a little bit.

We're going to de-stem and julienne these mushrooms.

They're going to go right in with the soffritto and the cremini mushrooms.

MING: Okay.

All right, so we'll break these down, and then, that's going to take about another eight minutes, right?

Then we add the mushrooms to it.

Correct.

MING: All right, we'll be back in eight minutes.

So it's been about ten minutes.

We're going to take the lid off and take a look at our soffritto.

MING: Okay.

Oh, that smells good!

So, you see that it's, it's, a lot of that liquid has come out.

It looks great.

So now, immediately, we're going to start adding these mushrooms.

MING: So those are creminis?

Cremini mushrooms.

MING: Right.

Right.

MING: So any mushrooms would work with this dish?

You know, I've used a lot of different ones, lobster mushrooms are great, cremini mushrooms are great.

MING: Right.

Maitake are great.

MING: Awesome.

Here, we're using cremini and dried shiitakes.

MING: Right.

De-stemmed, right?

De-stemmed, yeah, exactly.

MING: Only because they're too tough.

They're great for stock, but they're too tough to chew, yep.

So all of these mushrooms go in here.

MING: And dried mushrooms are so much more full of umami, right?

Especially shiitakes.

They're going to give so much flavor to this dish, you're going to be amazed.

So some of this tomato goes in here.

This is just San Marzano tomato.

MING: Right.

Just puréed.

Crushed, yeah.

Just crushed.

This is the... one of the key ingredients here.

So the shiitake soaking liquid.

MING: Yep.

This cuisson is going to go in here, and that's so important.

It's going to really raise this depth of flavor.

MING: Love it, you're just building layer on layer on layer.

Exactly, yeah.

So now we have the shiitake, we have the cremini.

So, a nice, heavy red, like a cabernet, something with some good acidity.

MING: Beautiful.

A wine you would want to drink with, not a wine you would cook with.

Always, always, for sure, always.

So that all goes in.

And then here's some simple vegetable stock.

MING: Okay.

You know, if you don't have vegetable stock, a touch of water could be all right.

MING: Okay.

You just got to be... make sure it always has flavor in the dish.

MING: Got it.

So at this point, this is a vegan, vegetarian dish.

Nothing going on, like... MING: Fantastic.

Like, if you just tossed this with pasta when this is ready... MING: Right.

You know, you could have a great, satisfying dish.

MING: Cool, and so, how long do you simmer that for?

So this is going to be about 45 minutes.

MING: So, pasta time.

So, pasta, so... MING: Here you go, chef.

This is a very basic recipe.

Right?

MING: Okay.

So 00 flour.

MING: Right.

00's important.

We don't want anything like... a chewy aspect that we don't develop through rolling.

MING: Right.

So the 00 flour's important.

MING: Awesome.

So this is the egg yolks.

And we're just going to start with this.

So I'm going to use my hands here.

MING: Yep.

And then, just a drop of milk.

MING: There's whole milk?

Just a little bit of whole milk, right.

MING: Whole milk, interesting.

So, it's, it really adds a velvety kind of color, uh, palette to it.

So a touch of olive oil.

MING: Okay.

And then at this point, we're just going to kind of go in there.

MING: This is where you have to use hands.

Yeah, I, you know... MING: Because you can feel it.

Look, there's a little white in here, so that was egg yolks with one egg?

Yeah, exactly, so yolks and one egg.

MING: Got it.

So we're going to go in here, and then we'll add the rest.

Now, it's important we don't add kind of everything at once.

MING: Right.

Right, because again, we want to kind of be in control.

So at this point, we're going to get this dough formed.

We're going to turn it onto the board.

I'm going to start kneading it.

MING: I think a lot of people, myself included, back in the day, it was, like, "Make your own pasta?

That's so hard."

But in actuality, it's one of the simplest things to do.

It is so simple, and it really, it, it shows you care.

I think it's satiating, it's de-stressing, too.

MING: Yeah, oh, absolutely.

It's like breaking down fish, right?

It's very, very Zen.

And then, so once you make the ball, does it have to rest?

Or you can go straight...

So we, no, we, we...

It's important to let it sit for a little bit, yeah.

MING: I would think so.

No, it's important.

MING: An hour or something?

About, yeah, about.

You know, depending on the quantity.

So, this dough's kind of, pretty much ready, you know?

MING: Okay.

We're just going to let it hang out for a little bit.

But it's got that vibrant yellow, right?

MING: It looks awesome.

All right, so this has to rest for about an hour, then we get to roll it out, right?

Exactly, perfect.

MING: Okay.

Back in a hour.

MING: You got rested pasta there.

So this pasta's rested about an hour.

If you can feel it, like, it's resilient, it kind of springs back.

MING: It's really soft.

It's silky smooth, right?

MING: Beautiful.

Silky smooth.

But it's also vibrant yellow.

Nice fresh eggs, key for pasta, right?

MING: All right, let's do it.

So now we're going to roll it out.

So we're making, at first, a simple sheet pasta, and then we're going to cut those.

MING: Okay.

Into discs.

And then we're going to go cook them and toss the pasta.

MING: Okay.

So this... start like this.

MING: Right.

I'm going to slide over here, chef.

And then, I'm just going to flatten this out.

I have some 00 flour here that we're going to use for dusting.

MING: A little bench flour?

Exactly, yeah.

And this, like, you got to be a little bit careful.

You really don't want to use too much.

You know, semolina, something... Just a durum semolina, very, very coarse, so it kind of falls off.

I like a little 00 flour, though.

It feels good.

MING: Okay.

So we're going to press this out, into a shape we can start extruding this through.

Okay, so... (mixer whirring) Let's start with this.

A little bit wider.

MING: Nice.

Right?

And you can see these air pockets and things start to develop.

They hold a lot of moisture.

MING: Okay.

All right?

So we have to be careful to make sure that we kind of push all those out.

And that only happens through folding it over itself... MING: You keep folding it, right?

Yeah, exactly.

So you're kind of laminating this dough just like a pastry chef might.

MING: You let me know when you want to go thinner.

Yeah, you can take it down a notch.

MING: So how's that?

Too much?

No, we're good.

MING: Good?

You can see what's happening.

MING: Yeah.

All right, you can take it down one.

And this process, we're just going to keep rolling it out until we get to our desired thickness, then we're going to stamp it out.

It's really cool, in Liguria, what they'll do is, in...

I've had this a lot of times is, they have stamps that are kind of like a family crest.

MING: Yeah.

And they'll stamp it as such.

MING: Done?

We're done, yeah.

MING: Fantastic.

(mixer stops) MING: All right.

So, this pasta... MING: It's beautiful.

Right?

MING: Here's your cutter.

Just a little bit of, like you said, bench flour, and then, we're just going to take this, very important.

MING: So, flour it?

Yeah.

If you wanted to make ravioli, you could do it.

We could cut pappardelle out of this, MING: Right.

So many different shapes.

Right?

And we're just going to go through, peel this, or cut this.

MING: Based on the ratio of pasta to Bolognese, I think we have plenty of sauce.

(laughs) Yes, sir.

And we're going to go through and cut these through, like... so what we can do is, if we don't put this through the machine too many times, we can reroll this into something that we might bake.

MING: Oh, interesting.

Like a lasagna.

MING: Lasagna, okay.

So here we have some of those done, just, literally ten minutes ago, knowing that chef wouldn't be able to do a million dollars' worth of coins.

No, we're pretty fast, though.

MING: You are pretty fast.

So this pasta must cook in, what, three minutes?

This takes, yeah, so, it's so fast.

So, you can see, this thing peels right off, right?

MING: Awesome.

And we'll use this for another use.

And then these things, we're just going to take a palette knife and loosen them.

MING: Oh, cool.

Awesome, they're beautiful, they're so soft.

But I think what you're going to see is this pasta's going to, it's going to really, really look beautiful with the sauce.

It's going to look so homey and rustic.

MING: Cool, all right.

Let's get this into some water.

And then, we get to eat!

I am so hungry.

Beautiful.

So now?

Obviously, a lot of boiling water, right?

So yeah, you want excessive, excessive amounts of water.

MING: Salted or not?

You know the key.

The key is salt, right?

MING: Right.

So I always learned, this should taste almost like seawater.

MING: 100%.

So don't be cheap.

So we're going to add the salt in there.

MING: And add it later.

You put it in your pot, in the cold water, you get it boiling.

This is good.

MING: Dump it in?

Yeah, ready to go.

MING: Okay, fantastic.

Make sure we keep this up at a boil, right?

MING: Right.

We do want to give it just one... one quick... and you can see, these things are already starting to float.

MING: Yeah.

Right?

'Cause they are so thin.

MING: So, basically, two-and-a-half minutes, three minutes, you're done.

Yeah, ready to go on this.

MING: All right, ready, eat in three minutes, yes!

Okay, so this is been about, about...

I would say about an hour.

You can see this color and the flavor, right?

MING: Oh, my God, that looks so good.

I mean, it smells super-unbelievable.

MING: Intense.

It smells like meat, right?

It does, like, you're not going to miss it.

MING: You're not going to miss meat.

Right?

So a little bit of ragú.

MING: Right.

A little ragú?

A lot of ragú, maybe, huh?

MING: Yeah.

Awesome.

Ming, there's some basil here that you've been growing.

Can I get a few, a few leaves?

Just rough tear.

Be generous.

MING: Okay.

So... perfect.

You can see, everything's really kind of last-second on this kind of pasta.

MING: Love it.

Oh, that pasta looks so cool.

All this pasta water that's sticking onto this?

MING: Yeah.

We want that.

Like, this has all of that flavor from the pasta dough.

That pasta has its own flavor, you know?

So it's really important that we... We really want to get this pasta, with the starch from the water, into here.

All of this is going to help it adhere to the actual pasta.

MING: Can't wait, chef.

So... MING: Is that enough basil for you?

You good, a little more?

Yeah, a little more, maybe.

MING: All right, sure.

Unlimited budget, here on Simply Ming, Akhtar.

Okay.

Great, that's perfect.

So, this thing's coming up.

You can start seeing already.

MING: Yeah.

It's starting to get shiny.

MING: Yep.

Right?

MING: So, did you already add some butter?

Yeah, a couple of pieces already.

MING: Just a couple of pats?

Yeah, not too much, I like to keep it, keep it clean.

MING: So, exactly, for vegan, you don't need the butter.

So we're just going to cook this down, just a little bit more.

MING: Okay.

Give you this.

That looks so good, oh, my God.

This is coming along really well.

Right, so then, a little bit of... A little bit of cheese.

Not too much.

MING: Is that Reggiano?

A little Parmesan, yeah, nice 18-month Parmesan, and we're just going to give it a quick toss.

MING: God, that smells so good!

I'm so psyched.

We're just going to give it a little bit more time in the pan.

There's some olive oil over there.

Would you mind passing that over?

MING: Here you go.

We're going to finish this with a little bit of additional richness, again, like, focusing on some of that peasant flavor.

Here, how about a little cracked pepper, too?

MING: Yep.

You can never be cheap on that, right?

Right, so... MING: Looks so good.

Oh, my God.

And if you've seen this show, you know, normally we sit down at a table and eat it later, but this is so good, I'm eating it now, dude.

I'm not letting your pasta die.

Pasta's funny, right?

MING: Yeah, pasta, pasta has to be eaten fresh.

You can smell that basil, right?

MING: Oh, my God, that looks so good!

I'm so excited, yes.

I'm going to clean this up here.

MING: Oh, chef, this looks amazing.

So, a little bit here.

MING: A little more cheese, okay.

A little bit here.

Not too much.

And then, really, really important, just a touch of good oil.

MING: Extra virgin, yeah.

Just a touch.

You know, it really makes such a big difference.

MING: Oh, yes.

Shiny, rich, not missing anything, right?

MING: Chef, I'm so excited.

All right, here we go.

This looks so good, dude.

Nice and hot.

That steam's just pouring off, right?

MING: Oh, my God, chef.

Unbelievable.

And the texture of the pasta, right, still got a little tooth to it.

But, the mushrooms, I mean, it really tastes like meat.

What do you think of the shiitake mushrooms, though?

They are so meaty, they're so juicy... MING: I mean, I kid you not, I mean, my kids would eat this thinking it was actually a meat Bolognese.

Even if they don't like mushrooms, yeah.

MING: Right, even if they don't.

You're going to get it.

MING: Dude, that is awesome.

Delicious dish, chef, you're amazing, thank you.

Thank you, thanks for having me.

MING: But you have to stick around.

You got to be my sous chef.

Yes, sir, I'm there.

MING: Because we're going to do my version of maitake noodle scallion cake.

I'm here for you.

MING: Stick around.

♪ ♪ MING: Chef, that was an amazing dish.

Aw, thanks.

MING: So good.

All right, I'm going to do a similar dish using maitake mushrooms, but I'm doing a scallion noodle cake.

But we're going to make a tomato fondue, spicy.

So we just slice really thin some jalapeños, with the seeds.

These are maitake mushrooms.

I know you know these, chef.

I love maitakes.

MING: There's 12,000 species of mushrooms.

This is the healthiest of them all.

Wow.

MING: And so easy to prep.

Right?

You just break it into florets like this, and the stem is totally edible, as well.

Stem, I just thinly slice.

Do you use maitakes at your restaurants?

So many.

I love maitakes.

MING: So good.

Oh, they're so good.

All right, so we're going to get the fondue going first.

Little bit of extra virgin olive oil.

And we're going to use the white part of the scallion.

As you know, chef, the white part is a little stronger than the green.

Yep.

MING: So I like to cook with the white.

A little sweeter, too, right?

MING: Say again?

A little sweeter, also?

MING: Yeah, it is.

I get that.

MING: All right, here, dump your jalapeños in here for me, chef.

It's going to be spicy!

It's going to be spicy, I like that, yeah.

MING: Ginger, a little bit of garlic, a little salt, a little pepper.

A couple more there.

MING: Awesome.

We like spicy food.

MING: We do.

So, honestly, when I knew I was cooking with you, chef, I'm, like, "Okay, he's Indian."

Like the Chinese, you like spice, right?

Absolutely.

MING: All right, so this I'm just sweating now.

It's going to take two or three minutes, and then I'm going to add just some chopped-up Napoli tomatoes to make a tomato fondue.

Okay.

MING: All right?

So then here, we're going to make a scallion noodle cake.

So dump those scallions in this pasta.

The rest of these scallions?

MING: Yeah, please.

So this is wonton noodles.

You can get them fresh in Chinatowns.

You can buy the dried ones and just blanche them.

Okay.

MING: All right?

The egg is kind of just the binder.

That will keep the cake all together.

Yeah, help that glue together, right?

MING: Yep, exactly.

So a little bit of salt.

Can I mix that for you?

MING: I'll do that, chef, I'll get my hands dirty-- there we go.

And if you, if you for some reason don't want to do egg, that's fine.

Awesome, so that's good to go.

So now we're going to use this pan here, and you're going to get it, you want it pretty hot.

And then what we're going to do, is, in this case, use grapeseed oil, because in a super-hot pan, using olive oil, right, it smokes too much.

Very neutral, too, yeah.

MING: Yeah, very neutral.

Want to get a good amount like that.

This is already blanched noodles, right?

So with the egg and all, this goes in.

You hear that sizzle right away, huh?

MING: You need that sizzle.

And this is where a nonstick pan is great, too.

All right, so that's going to be the base of our tomato fondue.

So again, because it's super-hot, I'm going to use grapeseed oil, just a tablespoon.

This, we'll put garlic and ginger, and then, I'll take those maitakes from you, chef.

Add them all in?

MING: You know what?

Do one more head for me, please.

I'm going to let this go.

So this is going to be about another two minutes.

These jalapeños need two minutes.

So we're going to take a quick break, and by that time, we'll have the, the noodle cake flipped.

Okay.

MING: All right?

Two minutes.

MING: All right, chef, see that?

Nice and a little toasty there.

Wow, really... Really roasted, yeah.

MING: Yeah, I roasted that.

All the mushrooms in?

MING: Yeah.

That's perfect.

All right, so now we're going to get these cooking.

Chef, hand me those tomatoes, please.

So this is going to be spicy, guys.

Yeah, dump it in.

You can go one jalapeño, you can go a half a jalapeño, or if you want to take the seeds out, then it will be much less spicy.

So that's cooking, this is cooking.

Give me a little... the tamari there, chef.

Just a touch of tamari.

(sizzling) Wow, it's going to caramelize around them.

MING: Yeah, exactly.

It's going to be really great.

MING: All right, so that's going.

Let's see how this looks.

All right, that looks pretty good, too.

All right, so this is going to take about five minutes for this all to come together, and we get to eat!

Can't wait.

This looks amazing.

MING: Do it.

All right, chef, it's been about six minutes, right?

You got a nice color on the noodle cake, mushrooms look awesome.

Tear me some basil, please.

Yep, yep.

MING: Into this tomato fondue, we're going to add extra... extra virgin olive oil, right?

I didn't want to cook with it because it's so spicy.

There we go.

This looks great.

It's a vibrant red.

You can smell those chilis coming off.

MING: All right, look at this noodle cake, how good does that look?

So I'm going to plate it on the cutting board, like that.

And we take our maitakes, like this.

Straight across.

Oh, yeah, baby.

This is real eating.

Almost like a scallion-maitake pizza.

All right.

Spicy, tomato-y, jalapeño fondue, perfectly ripped basil.

(both laughing) Well played, chef.

(Ming laughs) MING: There we go, chef!

Chef, do us, do me the honors and pour us some wine.

I'll serve us up.

So on the cutting board, you can then get a good slice of this noodle cake.

That looks amazing.

MING: We eat, chef.

I can't wait.

MING: Thank you.

First to you, man.

Cheers.

MING: Pinot noir from Carneros, it's from the northwest corner of Carneros.

Okay, how did we do here?

It's going to be hot, but all of us chefs have asbestos mouths, so... Yeah, this is, hotter the better, right?

MING: The hotter the better.

It's got a little spice.

What do you think?

Such big flavors.

The mushrooms have retained so much integrity.

MING: Right.

There's still, even though cooked down, they have a little crunch to them.

Yeah, they're still toothsome, yeah.

Really, really... and then the noodles are soft and rich.

MING: The noodles are fun, right?

I love the crunchiness of the noodles.

Soft and rich, yeah.

MING: That's the...

The noodle cake.

Chef...

The basil made it, huh?

MING: The basil made it!

Cheers.

MING: Continued success, dude.

Thank you.

MING: You're crushing it.

Great to have you here.

Thank you MING: Thank you so much.

And for you all out there, as always, thanks for watching-- peace and good eating.

Go make some noodles, boom.