Betty Rosbottom's Cooking School Cookbook: Betty Rosbottom

Offering a collection of recipes as well written as they are inviting, Rosbottom aptly demonstrates how her Ohio cooking school, La Belle Pomme, has earned its renown. The text takes readers step by step through offerings as simple as oven-fried Parmesan potatoes or as involved as her showstopping chocolate ribbon cake. She even tells readers how to smoke a whole turkey on the backyard grill. The dishes are trendy '80s fare, aimed at cooks who are in the kitchen for the fun of it. ""Upscale'' is the operative word for many dishes, such as scallops-tomato-and-bacon salad with chevre dressing, roast capon with sausage and sweet red-pepper stuffing, saute of asparagus, carrots and snow peas with prosciutto, and raspberry-mousse pie with a brownie-fudge crust. And, with basil mayonnaise, sourdough bread and Boston lettuce, the ``BLT'' sandwich is humble no more. Line drawings are decorative but do not demonstrate technique. Better Homes and Gardens Book Club main selection; author tour. (December)