Wine Braised Pear Chantilly - cooking recipe

Ingredients

4 pears, ripened (Anjoy, Bartlett or Bosc)
3 cups dry red wine (Cabernet, Merlot or Zinfandel)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
4 cloves, whole
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly ground
4 slices butter poundcake
1 cup whipping cream, heavy
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup almonds, sliced and butter-toasted

Preparation

Peel and core pears, leaving stems intact. (Note: I used a small melon-baller tool to carefully scoop the core out of each pear). Place pears in a non-reactive dutch oven with wine, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Simmer for 20 minutes, gently turning pears occasionally for even absorption/coloring. Remove pears and cool in refrigerator.
Simmer wine mixture until reduced to 2 cups syrup. Place cake slices in 4 dessert bowls.
In a medium bowl, beat whipping cream at medium speed until soft peeks form. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla.
Place pears upright on cake slices; trim bottoms to stand if necessary. Remove cinnamon sticks and cloves from syrup and pour syrup over pears. Garnish with whipped cream and almond slices.