Rare Tuna with Pear, Pine Nuts, and Chili Oil

Combine the garlic, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil and chili oil. Place the green onion into ice cold water.

Coat the tuna with the vegetable oil and salt both sides liberally. Heat a heavy frying pan over high heat until just smoking. Place the tuna in the pan and sear until a good, brown crust forms. Turn over and brown on the other side. The tuna should remain rare. Remove from the pan. Strain the soy sauce mixture through a fine sieve, pressing down on the garlic to extract the flavor. Discard the garlic. The soy mixture may be made up to 1 day in advance. Cover and refrigerate.

Drain the green onion and roll in a paper towel to dry. Core the pear and cut into 1/4-inch cubes.

Cut each piece of tuna into 12 thin slices. Using 3 slices per plate (or six for a main course), arrange in overlapping slices on 8 (or 4) plates. Drizzle with the soy sauce mixture. Place 1 teaspoon (5 mL) of mayonnaise on top of the tuna and top it with a mound of the pear. Drizzle any remaining sauce over the tuna and sprinkle with the sesame seeds, pine nuts and green onion. Serve immediately.