MOVE over meat. Vegetable dishes are now storming menus at some of the world's best restaurants, according to NY Times Weekend, where chefs are turning ingredients that used to be side dishes into centrepieces.

Leading the way is Dorset's Mat Follas following the publication this week of his new book,Vegetable Perfection, which has already had a rave review in the New York Times.

The MasterChef UK winner uses his considerable culinary skills and understanding of flavour to bring a selection of wow-factor vegetable dishes for vegans, vegetarians, and non-veggies alike.

Whilst rustling up a bubble and squeak dish at his new Bramble Café & Deli in Poundbury near Dorchester, Mat explains how it has changed the way he cooks at home.

"I now use vegetables as the focus of my meals. I'm not a vegetarian, and I don't plan on becoming one, but I have approached the dishes using vegetables as the main ingredients so they are highlighted in their own right."

He adds: "My original plan was that you could add meat to the dish if you wanted to, but in fact it felt like a forced fit in the end as I never really felt I needed to add meat."

Mat is a father of three, a chef, food writer and judge of the Great Taste Awards. He won Master Chef UK (BBC) in 2009, and has had a few highs and lows in the following years.

He owned a restaurant The Wild Garlic in Beaminster which opened to considerable acclaim, including 2 AA Rosettes and recommendations in the Good Food and Michelin guides, but it had to close after it ran into financial problems.

In 2014 he opened a second restaurant within The Casterbridge Hotel in Dorchester and now he is focusing on his latest joint venture, The Bramble Cafe & Deli.

Vegetable Perfection is Mat's second book. His first book Fish was published last year and has remained in Amazon's top 10 of fish books.

Organised by type, there are recipes for root veg, green veg, alliums and bulbs, potatoes and squash, legumes and pods, sweet veg, shoots and stems, mushroom and fungi, as well as recipe's for a well-stocked chef's store cupboard.

Choose from smoked parsnips with pear and blue cheese, cauliflower and truffle pate, red cabbage and burnt aubergine baba ganoush, kale gnocchi, spring pistou soup, French onion soup, Nettle and wild garlic soup with a poached egg and Gruyere toast,

Whether you want a re-vitalizing juice to start the day, a quick summer salad, slow-roasted winter bakes, or a way to preserve an abundance of seasonal produce, you'll find inspiration here.

The book is priced at £16.99 and is available on Amazon.