Anchovy, Marinated Artichoke, Tomato and Basil Bruschetta

Mrs Ribeye is away visiting her folks in Russia for her annual Easter trip home. Unfortunately, that means that left to my own devices, I cannot be bothered to cook a proper meal for myself.

Today, I have made my Courgette Soup and will be eating it with this delicious bruschetta.

I know that this might sound a bit like a proper meal, but the truth is, I made the soup a few days ago in anticipation of not feeling particularly inspired to create a sumptuous meal for one in the coming few days, and let's face it, the bruschetta cannot justifiably be called 'cooking'.

Another reason to pair these two dishes together is that I am quite loving the 'eating meat in moderation' schtick, which we started a couple of weeks ago. I know it probably won't last, but I will keep it going for as long as I can.

Use plum tomatoes, if you can, for the bruschetta. I don't know why, but plum tomatoes remind me of Italy in a way that the bog standard packs of supermarket light red tomatoes never do - and this dish is Italian after all, so authenticity will elevate this dish beyond a mere open sandwich. For this reason, I'm calling my courgette soup 'zucchini soup' for today, and I'm going to eat this meal while watching The Godfather. Any excuse...

You can buy jars of ready-marinated artichoke hearts in  most supermarkets (life is way too short to marinate your own artichokes, surely?), which are great with this bruschetta, and also an essential ingredient on my Quattro Stagioni Pizza.

These bruschetti (excellent use of Italian pluralisation here - I hope I've got it right) would also be great with cubed mozzarella, shaved parmesan, goats cheese, or other marinated vegetables, like sweet red peppers. This combination here will set you back £1.50 per generous serving.

You could also make these bruschetti in a smaller size for a summery drinks party.

Serves 2 (2 large bruschetti each)

INGREDIENTS:

4 large plum tomatoes, deseeded and chopped into 1cm dice
12 pieces of marinated artichoke hearts, cut into 1cm dice
2 tablespoons of olive oil (or the oil from the jar of marinated artichokes)
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
Pinches of salt and pepper
1 ciabatta
4 anchovy fillets
4-5 basil leaves, torn

Mix the tomato, artichokes, oil, oregano and seasoning in a bowl and refrigerate to allow the flavours to mingle. In the meantime, split and toast the ciabatta. Spread the tomato and artichoke mix onto the bread and lay the anchovy fillets over. Sprinkle with the torn basil leaves immediately before serving.