CHESTNUT HILL — The table in Eva Bonis’s dining room is set with an embroidered cloth from her native Hungary. A deep bowl holds lecho with sausage, a colorful specialty of tomatoes, onions, and green peppers, seasoned with paprika, which, Bonis explains, “is the cornerstone of the Hungarian culture.” Another dish is packed with green peppers stuffed with ground turkey, rice, onions, and, of course, paprika. Both are from Bonis’s self-published cookbook “New Hungarian Cuisine: Traditional & Contemporary Favorites.”

The volume, her second, took Bonis five years to complete. “It was a labor of love,” she says. Friends and relatives tested recipes, others helped with editing, and her daughter Andrea and son Peter provided general support and encouragement.