Leftover leftovers?

So the other night we had a few friends over for dinner and I made, among other things, mushroom crostini (an appetizer), sauteed kale and radicchio (side dish) and spicy turkey italian sausage fusilli. I had a fair amount of cooked (unadorned) fusilli leftover that I just threw into a ziplock. I also had quite a bit of the mushroom crostini topping left, and a small amount of the sauteed greens.

There was just about enough of the sausage fusilli for both of us to have again, but not quite. So, I tossed the plain leftover pasta with a generous amount of the mushroom topping, all of the greens, and a few slices of chicken breasts from a beautiful hen I roasted two nights ago. I put each different pasta into two casserole dishes and baked them (uncovered). I find this is the best way to re-heat pasta. It doesn't get mushy. Well now we had too much for just the two of us to eat, so we still have some of the mushroom pasta left. And it was surprisingly REALLY good. So now what? Do we have to throw that out? Eat it cold? Can it be reheated again? Seems there is a rule that you can only heat something up once. Kind of like that rule that you can't refreeze something that's already been thawed.

What are your thoughts on this?

[Jenise]

What about re-purposing the mushroom pasta by combining it (cold) with some roasted vegetables and a vinaigrette? Pasta salad....

What about re-purposing the mushroom pasta by combining it (cold) with some roasted vegetables and a vinaigrette? Pasta salad....

Well, it's already quite "full" of good stuff. Lots of mushrooms and the sauteed greens. I may just add a bit of EVOO, s&p and eat it cold. That chicken would really suffer from the reheating I think. Just wondering, can you do it? Safely?

I think the issue is how old the food is and how long it sat unwrapped -- i.e., how long have bacteria had to start growing in it -- not whether it's hot or cold during any of those intervals.

Seems there is a rule that you can only heat something up once. Kind of like that rule that you can't refreeze something that's already been thawed.

I have never heard these rules and have done both many times. Quality sometimes suffers but not always. Really depends on the dish. I never had any problems with health by doing this.

[Jenise]

What others said. I wouldn't re-freeze something once it thawed without cooking it, but no problem cooking something again and again and freezing between--cooking sterilizes. In effect, you're starting over. Now foods do break down and some things will survive repeated cycles better than others, but I follow absolutely no rules of thumb on this matter. It's a dish by dish thing.