When you think of New England cooking, what springs to mind? Boiled lobster, bean-hole beans, clam chowder and blueberry pie? How about feta cheese and linguica, rosemary pesto and jerk pork?

Sure, there are the standbys. But when cookbook author and Bon Appetit columnist Brooke Dojny set out to write “The New England Cookbook,” she knew there was more to it than that.

“I felt it was really important to weave as much of the ethnic cooking of the region into this book,” Dojny said during a recent interview at her Sedgwick summer home. “There are huge pockets of ethnic groups that have added a richness to the brew here.”

In the book, Hungarian Chicken Paprika and Lobster Fra Diavlo share pages with Steamed Boston Brown Bread and Aroostook County Potato and Sausage Skillet Dinner. It’s an interesting mix of plain and fancy, ethnic flavors and traditional favorites. This isn’t exactly the sewing club fund-raiser cookbook. But parts of it could be.

“I did get a lot of ideas from community cookbooks, because they really reflect the flavor of a given locale,” she said.

And that’s what Dojny set out to do: Reflect the flavor of this locale, and provide a “snapshot of contemporary New England cooking.”

She updated favorites, adding new “convenience” ingredients, such as dried cranberries. She also acknowledged that Greek restaurants and Italian trattorias are as much a part of the culinary landscape as clam shacks and church suppers.

Dojny (pronounced dodge-knee) grew up in Norwalk, Conn., which she calls the “an almost perfect microcosm of the New England melting pot” in the cookbook’s introduction. At home, fresh-off-the-boat fish and homemade desserts were mainstays. A snack-filled walk home from school was an international culinary tour – salami at the Italian market, Hungarian pickles, split-pea soup at a Franco-American friend’s house, or Jewish pastry at the home of another.

Dojny studied English in college, but her love of food was too strong to ignore, so she combined the two.

“I’d always just had this passion for cooking and it just sort of dawned on me when I was in my late 20s that I wanted to do it in some way professionally,” she said.

So she watched Julia Child, took food and nutrition classes and trained with venerable chefs. Oh, and living in Westport, Conn., didn’t hurt. It was the land of Martha Stewart’s catering business and Cooks magazine, and Dojny worked for both.

“I went and camped out on their doorstep until they gave me a job,” Dojny said of Cooks. “It was the perfect training ground for me.

There, she tested recipes, learned food styling for photo shoots, became the assistant culinary director and worked as a free-lance writer. At the magazine, she also met Melanie Barnard, with whom she has co-authored several books and writes a monthly column, “30-Minute Main Courses,” for Bon Appetit.

Many of the recipes in “The New England Cookbook,” her 14th book, are adaptations of recipes Dojny has amassed in her years as a writer. Others were created after two years of eating her way around the states, interviewing locals and perusing community cookbooks.

“That was really the fun part of the book – collecting all those quotes,” she said.

The result is a book you can actually read. Peppered with anecdotes – including one about brownies, which likely originated when a Bangor housewife’s chocolate cake went awry – the book balances history, culture and recipes.

“Many cookbooks are recipe-driven,” Dojny said. “This one was unlike those – this really did involve a lot of research – traveling around, eating around, not necessarily gathering recipes.”

And writing the cookbook gave her an excuse to explore the cuisine of Maine, where she and her husband, Henry, own a seaside home on a cozy inlet.

“What I found was having been born and brought up in New England and living most of my life here that my focus was really on this region,” she said.

Following are a few selections from the 350 recipes in “The New England Cookbook.

Kennebunk Lobster Stew Makes 4 main-course servings

3 live 1- to 1 1/4-pound lobsters 6 tablespoons unsalted butter 3/4 cup dry white wine 2 teaspoons paprika 2 cups heavy cream 3 cups whole milk salt if necessary

Boil or steam the lobsters in large pot in or over salted water until they are just barely cooked, about 8 minutes. Remove with tongs to a rimmed baking sheet. When cool enough to handle, crack the shells over a bowl, saving as much juice as possible. Extract the tail and claw meat, chop it into 1-inch chunks, and reserve. Scoop the green tomalley (or liver) out of the bodies and reserve it. (The tomalley looks unappealing at this point, but is full of flavor, and its color will not affect the finished stew.) Reserve 2 of the lobster bodies.

Melt the butter in a large heavy soup or stew pot. Add the tomalley and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the wine and cook over medium heat until the liquid is reduced by about half, about 5 minutes. Add the lobster meat along with any saved juices, sprinkle on the paprika, and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.

Slowly add the cream, stirring constantly. Then stir in the milk. Add the reserved lobster bodies to the stew, pushing them down so they’re submerged in the liquid. (They lend more flavor to the finished stew.) Cool the finished stew to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 6 hours or up to 24 hours.

When ready to serve, remove and discard the lobster shells. Reheat the stew very slowly, stirring frequently so it does not curdle. Taste for seasoning, adding salt if necessary. Ladle into deep bowls and serve.

Maury’s Best Brownies

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate 2 eggs 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon black pepper 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8- or 9-inch square or 11-by-7-inch baking pan.

Combine the butter and chocolate in a heavy, medium-sized saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until the butter and chocolate are melted. Remove from the heat.

Whisk the eggs with the sugar and vanilla in a large mixing bowl until well-blended, but not foamy. Gradually whisk the melted chocolate mixture into the egg mixture until combined. Stir in the walnuts, if you like. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top.

Bake until a toothpick inserted about two-thirds of the way to the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. The center should still be slightly sticky. Cool the brownies in the pan on a wire rack for about 20 minutes. Cut into 16 or more squares and cool completely before serving.

Succulent Braised Chicken Portuguese

2 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 pound linguica or other garlicky smoked sausage, such as kielbasaa, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices 1 large onion, cut in half and sliced 1 green bell pepper, coarsely chopped 3 1/2 to 4 pounds chicken parts 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano salt and fresh-ground black pepper 2 large bay leaves, broken in half 1 cup dry white wine or dry sherry 1 cup chicken broth or water 1 small pickled or dried hot red pepper, minced, or 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakess 1 orange, cut in wedges

Heat the oil in a large skillet with a lit or in a Dutch oven. Add the sausage, onion and green pepper and cook over medium heat until the sausage is browned and the vegetables softened, about 10 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and reserve, leaving the drippings in the pan.

Season the chicken on all sides with the oregano and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Add it to the skillet, raise the heat to medium-high, and cook until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Add the bay leaves and cook them in the pan drippings for about 1 minute to release their flavor.

Return the sausage and vegetable mixture to the pan and add the wine, broth and hot pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer, covered, until the chicken is very tender and cooked through, 35 to 45 minutes. (The chicken can be cooked a couple of hours ahead, held at cool room temperature, and reheated just before serving.) Remove and discard the bay leaves.

Serve the chicken with the orange wedges so guests can squeeze the juice over their portion, if they like.

Grilled Lamb Chops with Rosemary-Mint Pesto Makes 4 servings

1/2 cup lightly packed fresh mint leaves 1/2 cup lightly packed fresh parsely sprigs 3 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves, pulled from stems 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese 2 garlic cloves, peeled 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 8 loin lamb chops, cut 1 inch thick.

Fresh-ground black pepper or cracked peppercorns

Combine the mint, parsley, rosemary, cheese, garlic, lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon salt and red pepper flakes in a food processor. Pulse to make a rough paste. With the motor running, slowly pour the oil through the feed tube and process until the sauce is a smooth puree. (The sauce can be stored overnight in the refrigerator, but will darken in color slightly. Return to room temperature before using.)

Build a medium-hot charcoal fire or preheat a gas grill.

Season the lamb chops with salt and pepper. Spoon out 2 tablespoons of pesto and brush over the lamb chops. Reserve the remainder for passing at the table.

Grill the lamb, turning once, until it is cooked to the desired degree of doneness, about 10 minutes for medium.

Serve the lamb chops with a bowl of the pesto for spooning over the meat at the table.

“The New England Cookbook” is published by Harvard Common Press and costs $18.95.