Laura Calder's Pear Soaked in wine and honey

• 4 Bosc pears or eight small Anjou pears
• 1 bottle dry red wine (Cabernet, Pinot Noir)

• 1/2 cup honey
• Whipped cream flavored with sugar and Cognac, for serving, if desired
• Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
  
  Peel the pears from top to bottom, leaving the stem intact, and lay them in a lidded oven-proof dish just large enough to hold them. Bring the wine and honey to a boil, cover the pears with the liquid, and transfer to the oven. Bake until very tender, 4 to 5 hours, turning now and again.
  
  Gently remove the pears to a serving bowl with a slotted spoon. Boil the liquid rapidly until reduced to syrup, about 20 minutes. Pour the syrup over the pears and reserve at room temperature for several hours, or cover and refrigerate until about an hour before serving. Serve with whipped cream which you've sweetened with a little sugar and flavored with Cognac

          syrup.

Ay the French really know how to cook with wine.......