Easygoing lunches that are a joy both to cook and eat

There’s a summer cake cooling on the side, its crumb still warm, plump apricots peeping through its oat and almond crust. I shall bring it to the table in the garden in slices, with a tub of crème fraîche. Before that, there will be a hugger-mugger assortment of salads – tomato and anchovy, couscous with broad beans and orange, and smoked mackerel with horseradish sauce. From the oven will come a battered tin of roast summer vegetables, slender carrots and baby beetroots plump as golf balls, with new potatoes in their skins, all toasted and golden, and a dressing of coriander seeds, black pepper and green olives.

Lunch will be on the table for everyone to tuck in as they wish – a single salad at a time, or a generous jumble so the dressings merge on the plate, to eat however one feels comfortable. Anyone who demands even a modicum of formality on a summer weekend lunch is on a hiding to nothing, but the cooking must still be careful and thoughtful. The smallest and freshest vegetables, salads put together with any eye to balance – just a few bitter rocket or watercress leaves among mostly sweet, soft, buttery lettuce; crisp cucumber with an old-fashioned salad cream and dishes of perfectly scrubbed radishes.

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A trip to Essex yields dangerously moreish rewards

I am in Essex. Braintree to be precise. Braintree Village to be what3words about it. I am particularly pleased because for a long time, I’ve been trying to get to a Marks & Spencer to sample two particular bars, and here there is one. I don’t have one where I live, deep in Gainsborough country. The first bar is called The Big Daddy (£5.50, 300g); the second the Whip Off the Old Block (£5/200g).

Both are in cardboard boxes with no inner plastic sleeve. I approve. Very cleverly designed, modern, but with a touch of retro. I don’t suppose either bar is aimed at children. I say bar, but these are actually behemoths. Both are highly dangerous.

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Observer study shows award-winning venues impose fees of up to £375 a head for ticket cancellations

With her train to London running late on the weekend of the coronation, Claire Gleave decided to cancel the restaurant table for five that she had reserved because she knew she would miss the 7pm booking. But she still ended up with a £125 bill.

The mother-of-three from the Cotswolds fell foul of reservation rules that, according to analysis by the Observer , a significant proportion of top-end restaurants have now adopted: if you cancel your booking too late or don’t show, you will be charged a fee. And that fee can be the same price as a number of courses or even a whole tasting menu.

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Two London joints work wonders with fire and smoke in their unique takes on US-style barbecue

Burnt Smokehouse, 161a Midland Road, Leyton, London E10 6JT. Walk-ins only. Meats £2.50-£10.50/100g; Sauces and sides £1-£6; Dessert £5

Rack City Ribs at The Duke’s Head, 16 Highgate High Street, London N1 5JG. On Instagram: @rackcityribs . Ribs £13.95-£22; Wings, sides £2.50-£11.95; Dessert £5

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Whether strawberries or fish and chips, summer flavours are better with bubbles

Martini Asti Spumante, Piedmont, Italy (from £8.50, Asda , Morrisons , Waitrose , Tesco ) I am not a complete obsessive about seasonal eating – I have way too many mid-winter fresh fruit-and-veg cravings to be able to carry that off. But I do think strawberries are only really worth having in Britain during their traditional season. We’re in peak strawberry season now, of course, a moment of sweetly succulent, perfumed abundance when I would happily eat them at every meal. This is a simple pleasure that doesn’t really need an accompaniment on the plate or in the bowl – even cream and sugar get in the way if the strawberries are at the perfect point of ripeness. But it does work pretty well with something alongside in the glass. An idea – I suppose Wimbledon-inspired – has got about that champagne is what’s required – but I find it’s not sweet enough, and you’re left with a mouthful of acid. Far better the sweet delicately floral sherbetty grapey foaminess of the moscato wines of Asti, such as the widely available Martini Spumante.

Franck Bonville Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs, France NV (£40.95, Lea & Sandeman ) For a slightly less bubbly but still gently foaming and more gorgeously pure early summer meadow-scented use of the same moscato grapes, another great strawberry-partner is Moscato d’Asti, specifically Alasia Moscato d’Asti (£8.50, ndjohn.co.uk ). It’s even lower in alcohol, too (5%abv v 7.5% for the spumante), an attribute that is all-the-more important in the heat. If you really think it has to be champagne with strawberries, go for a demi-sec, the sweetest style, such as Pol Roger Rich NV (£44.99, houseofmalt.co.uk ) – although frankly I think you’d be better off saving up your champagne budget for a pairing that is as good as any wine-food combination around: one of the dry, or drier, styles (brut, extra brut, zero dosage in descending order of sweetness) of blanc de blancs (100% chardonnay) with fish and chips. The supremely lithe, stylish example from grower house Franck Bonville is a recent favourite of mine.

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As the cost of living crisis bites, consumers are asking how so many businesses have maintained or raised their profits

David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.

Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.

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The musician from Blur and the Waeve on the magic of Spain’s Alhambra, chip butties and his love of jazz autobiographies

Graham Coxon was born in West Germany in 1969 and raised in Derby and later Essex. He studied fine art at Goldsmiths, quitting after about a year to form Seymour, later known as Blur. A multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, he has had a prolific solo career alongside Blur, releasing eight studio albums since 1998, and he now records with his partner, Rose Elinor Dougall, as the Waeve. The couple live in north London with their child. Last year Coxon published his memoir Verse, Chorus, Monster! .On 8 and 9 July Blur play Wembley stadium in London; their new album, The Ballad of Darren , is out on 21 July.

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Step away from that bin and consider new ways of using up old bread, leafy greens, fruit and milk

What would you do with an extra £730? That’s the amount the average UK household wastes each year, by throwing away untouched or unopened food, according to the waste and sustainability charity Wrap . That’s a staggering 2m tonnes and the equivalent of roughly one in every three bags of groceries we bring into our homes. Food waste is not only bad for our pockets, it’s bad for the environment, too: 36m tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions could be saved if we stopped throwing it into landfill. Storing ingredients properly to keep them fresher for longer, planning mealtimes and getting creative with leftovers are three simple ways with which we can reduce our food-waste footprint. Let’s start with the UK’s five most-wasted ingredients.

Bread We chuck out about 20m slices of bread every day. I always store half my fresh loaves in the freezer, sliced and wrapped tightly. Revive a stale loaf by sprinkling with a little water, placing on a lined baking sheet and into a low oven for a few minutes (or in the microwave in 30-second blasts). Alternatively, turn it into breadcrumbs (or do like the Italians and make pangrattato ), use to thicken soups, such as pappa al pomodoro (Tuscan bread and tomato soup), ribollita and gazpacho, or use instead of pine nuts in a pesto; they’re the secret to thicker sauces, too.

You Can Cook This!: Simple, Satisfying, Sustainable Veg Recipes, by Max La Manna, is published by Ebury Press at £22. To order a copy for £19.36, go to guardianbookshop.com

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A meal of hearty beans and clams, lifted with the fresh flavours of herbs, chilli and a squeeze of lemon

Peel and finely dice a medium-sized shallot , one of the banana variety. Warm 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large, deep pan over a moderate heat. Stir in the chopped shallot and let it cook for 7 minutes or so until it is soft, but not coloured – keep stirring it so that it doesn’t brown.

Squash 1 large clove of garlic flat with a pestle or the side of a heavy knife, then stir into the shallot with ½ a tsp of dried, hot chilli flakes and the finely grated zest of 1 medium-sized lemon .

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