The Martha Stewart version from her Classics cookbook basically does this. You just cook the pasta for 2-3 minutes in boiling water, then it cooks the rest of the way in the bechamel in the oven. It's the best mac and cheese I've ever had.

i will certainly try the milk version!! cause mac and cheese has got to be reeeeeeeally creamy :P
thanks for the tip

@ROSEINTHECITY - I'm in complete agreement with you. Martha's mac and cheese is the best I've ever made and I have eight more mac eaters who would also back us up!

Melting cream cheese in the pot and adding it to the bechemel/cheese sauce also makes for an amazing mac and cheese, as does slipping in a bit of cream.

I've been cooking my noodles in milk for a while, I actually learned about it here on kitchn.com a few months ago. I love this method, but you do have to stir it the entire time. I once made the mistake of walking away from it for a few minutes, and when I came back there was an inch-thick black mess stuck to the bottom of my pan. But it's worth the hassle of standing over the stove for 15-20 minutes -- all in all it's quicker and easier than cooking the noodles separately from a bechamel, and I think it's far tastier.

Mac and cheese is the #1 request from my kids. Thanks for running my recipe again (big-hearted) - but I must confess that we do make it a bit cheesier.

Hah - this is the way my dad makes his legendary mac and cheese - cook the pasta briefly, make a cheese sauce, and layer it all into a huge casserole dish with some more cheese in between for extra melty-goodness when it comes out of the oven. The trouble is, that cheese sauce is a family secret! I still have trouble convincing him to show it to me!

would this translate well into making just one serving? it's far too dangerous for me to keep multiple servings around the house!

@BENN2009: I make a full batch, then divide it into individual servings, I immediately freeze all but one serving. Would that help? So that I won't eat them one after the other right away, I connect them to a specific event, like when I've worked late and just want to order pizza-in I pop a mac & cheese into the oven or microwave and by the time I've changed out of my work clothes it's usually done.

Milk is $3 a gallon where I'm at, I think I'll just stick to using water.

thanks, @Rucy! i love freezing things so much, though, that there's literally not an inch of room in my freezer for anything new! guess until i eat the contents of my freezer down i'll just make a whole batch and try and exercise self-control :)

The NY Times published a very simple, very delicious recipe a few years back. IIRC, it includes macaroni, two types of cheddar (mild and sharp), butter, milk, and salt. I've made it many times, and it beats the heck out of dealing with a bechamel, etc.

One way I've found to cut down on the fat, for mac & cheese, is to use 2% milk (not non-fat which is essentially sugar water to the body) and put in a pinch of agar agar - combined milk+agar mimics the mouthfeel of half & half or heavy cream. Then I use very flavorful but naturally low fat cheeses. It's the one way I can have mac & cheese more often which is a good thing ;)

@jenawithonen I use skim milk power reconstituted in water. It's cheaper than fresh milk and doesn't burn as easily, still gets cheesy as it cooks and is very creamy.

3$ a gallon I would kill for that price. In Canada we pay almost 7$. I buy organic non-homo and it cost me 3.50 for a litre. Food prices are always a lot cheaper in the US.

I don't know how long I ended up cooking it for (I was on the phone the whole time), but I made a version of this tonight that was *delightful*. Thank you for posting the link - I never would have tried this technique, but now I'm planning to make it again asap (my partner LOVED it). My version is here if you're interested: http://seasonal-menus.blogspot.com/2012/02/not-entirely-unhealthy-mac-cheese.html

Basically, I added a few things, then baked it for 10 min (after it was pretty much cooked on the stovetop).

I finally tried this out tonight. I was definitely amazed at how creamy and thick the milk got as the pasta cooked. I don't know where I went wrong, though - once it came off the stove and I added the cheese, it wasn't creamy any more. It really is a much easier recipe than those that call for bechemel, but I've never had a creaminess issue with the more labor intensive recipes. May just stick to what I know unless I'm in a bind!

That sounds yummy, I also have a special ingredient I use in my mac and cheese.... chicken stock! I use a ratio of about 3/4 stock, 1/4 light cream, but you could easily go half and half if using milk. It lightens while adding a flavour that people don't recognize but comment on. Not for the vegan/vegeterians out there, but I highly recommend trying it in your next batch.