IT engineer wins MasterChef 2009

An IT engineer from west Dorset has been crowned this year's BBC MasterChef but says he cannot open his own restaurant because of the recession.

Mat Follas, of Beaminster, took the trophy in Thursday's all-male final.

His winning three-course menu consisted of wild ingredients including rabbit, spider crab and lavender.

The 42-year-old married father-of-three said his long term plan was to run his own restaurant, serving the type of wild dishes he cooked up in the final.

He said he had made a decision that if he got to the final, he would become a full-time chef and buy a restaurant.

But six months after filming for the series finished, Mr Follas told the BBC he had not yet been able to finance the move because of the recession.

Mr Follas has battled through six weeks of heats, a week of gruelling semi-finals and a week of finals - broadcast this week.

Hokey pokey

In the final he cooked a starter of trio of wild rabbit, a main course of spider crab with hand cut chips and sea vegetables, and a dessert of lavender mousse with hokey pokey and a blackberry sauce.

Presenter and judge John Torode said: "Mat came in here and absolutely wowed us with food which was extraordinary in both presentation and flavour."

Mr Follas said he was "delighted" but had not been thinking in terms of winning the whole competition when he first appeared.

"What I wanted was a validation that my food was good," he said.

"At the end of the semi-finals the only thing I wanted to do was to get to the finals.

"I'm humbled and proud that my dishes won such an amazing competition.

"It's been a fantastic experience and I've learnt an enormous amount. Although, at times, I have never worked so hard in all my life, it's been great fun."

Mr Follas beat fellow finalists Andy Oliver and Chris Gates to the title.