This spicy tomato pasta is for all seasons

My two kids went to sleep-away camp this summer, and while my partner and I did miss them quite a bit (sniff ), one of the unexpected benefits of their absence was being able to eat whatever we wanted.

There was zero planning of meals catered to their ever-fickle tastes and aversions: no tomatoes for that one, nothing spicy for that one, no seafood ever for both. (I know parenting experts say not to cater to your kids’ culinary whims, but a peaceful dinner is more important to me than a nutritionally balanced one. I figure their palates will expand when they go to college?)

We ate all of the spicy, vegetable-abundant, seafood-heavy meals possible over those two weeks, and it was downright blissful. The recipes below are the kind we enjoyed, and they are all outrageously good, fast options for a weeknight, regardless of whether you are temporarily free from the demands of picky eaters.

DAVID MALOSH / THE NEW YORK TIMES Spicy and saucy cherry tomato pasta can be made with ruby-red cherry tomatoes still warm from the summer sun. The secret is cooking down the tomatoes until they burst and their juices caramelize, and adding a little tomato paste to bolster their flavor.

JOHNNY MILLER / THE NEW YORK TIMES Save time preparing saag paneer, a classic Indian dish of stewed, seasoned greens, by using frozen chopped spinach and roasting the paneer on a sheet pan instead of pan-frying it.