Walnut, Chilli and Anchovy Bruschetta

After a bratwurst and a hefeweizen or two at my department happy hour at HMS last Friday, Melissa and I made our way home on the early side. Pending the weather (heavy rain had threatened almost every evening last week), we had arranged to cart a king-size foam mattress topper that we no longer required over to Amanda's place for her to try out. Melissa decided a snack was in order before manual labor ensued, so she whipped up a really original bruschetta...

She toasted some sliced sourdough bread we kept frozen for just such an occasion, then topped it with her walnut chilli salsa, chopped basil leaves and a single (large) anchovy fillet. These anchovies are pretty special (deboned by hand somewhere in Spain), and for someone who doesn't particularly like anchovies I have to say I really enjoyed them. Salty and intensely fishy, but when used in the right context with equally strong flavors that balance them out, really wonderful. The citrus, chilli and sun-dried tomato in the salsa did the trick.

After we ate we took our open magnum of 2006 Redcliffe Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough, NZ) along with the mattress topper and some power tools over to Amanda's to scope out a cabinet installation job she needed done. We didn't get the cabinet on the wall, but we did get to look through some fantastic photos Amanda had in her albums from New Zealand. She has a really great eye...