SEARED YELLOWFIN TUNA WITH A COMPOTE OF MEDITERRANEAN VEGETABLES

When I was a kid we stayed once or twice in guesthouses in rural New South Wales. I remember one in the southern highland where a maid stood in the hall outside the dining room in the evening and hammered a small xylophone to announce that dinner was served. I recall another on the southern headland at Mollymook on the south coast. I mention these guesthouses because something I recall at breakfast in both establishments was a compote of fruit served for breakfast. These mixtures of sweet and gently stewed fruits usually included apricots, peaches and prunes - which my parents told me kept me regular. I thought of this when I decided to poach baby eggplants, yellow zucchini, spring onions and tomato in olive oil with some fresh thyme. I stuck with a southern French influence with a spoon of olive tapenade.

SEARED YELLOWFIN TUNA WITH A COMPOTE OF MEDITERRANEAN VEGETABLES