Olive-Tomato Compote

I made a seared scallop recipe from Bistro Cooking at Home, the most exciting part of which was the compote the scallops are served with (although the scallops were good, meaty and sweet with a nice sear on one side). First you peel and trim 10 garlic cloves, then put them in a small saucepan and cover them with olive oil. (It does take a lot of oil unless you have one of those tiny saucepans, which I don't. The extra oil gets flavored with the garlic, so I've been using it to brush bread for bruschetta.) Simmer it for 10 minutes, then remove the garlic cloves and 1/3 cup oil to a bowl to cool. Roughly chop a couple handfuls of pitted olives (I used kalamata) and about a cup of sundried tomatoes. (The tomatoes I used were a revelation. I don't know where my produce stand got them, or if they dehydrated them there, but they were sweeter and meatier than I've ever had, pleasant instead of overwhelming. They came in one of those plastic rectangular boxes.) Dice a shallot. Add it all to the cooled garlic and oil. At this point I refrigerated it overnight, then added chiffonaded basil and let it sit at room temperature while I prepared the scallops.

As you can see from the photo above, I ate the compote the next day on bruschetta.