Like most Kiwis, I bloody love a BBQ. There's something about charred meat, a few salads and al fresco dining that just hits different.
And like some of us - more than would probably admit - I like it even more when someone *else* is on the tools.
Don't get me wrong, I can turn a sausage and click some tongs with the best of them, but I have a short attention span. I want to be free to roam, to socialise, to top up my wine at will.
When it comes to more complicated grilling, I got nothing. Last time I tried to do a Greek chicken souvlaki on the BBQ, I panicked that I'd over or undercook it and had to call my chef flatmate to leave work early and help.
And how the hell are you meant to know when a big hunk of lamb is perfectly pink in the middle but not burnt on the outside?
Enter the Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Oven: An 8-in-1 unit that offers everything from high-heat roasting to smoking to baking, PLUS is an artisan pizza oven, with easy to follow instructions and controls.
When Ninja asked if I'd like to review one, I knew my summer hosting game was about to level up. I immediately invited my mates round for pizza that weekend and got to work making my own dough.
The oven is heavy and well-made, but was just light enough for me to manoeuvre it out of the box on my own and set up on a table on the deck.
Because of its design, I didn't have to worry about putting anything down for protection, as it sits up on sturdy legs that avoid any direct heat on the surface you place it on.
Set up is incredibly easy - there basically isn't any - and you just set the dial to whatever type of pizza you want to make (artisan, in our case) and hit start to get the oven pre-heating.
To infuse your 'za with that smoky flavour, you can add a scoop of the provided woodfire pellets and push the 'Woodfire Flavour' button - ridiculously easy, but any outdoor cooking aficionado would absolutely roll their eyes at it.
Luckily, there were none present, so we pressed on.
We went for a simple margarita pizza, and with the oven pre-heated to a roaring 370c - it literally shows an 'add food' message on the screen in case you were in any doubt - we were away laughing.
Or so we thought.
This was NOT the fault of the oven (Ninja even warned against it in their handy pizza tips section of the manual) but we didn't properly flour the pizza peel that came with the unit. This meant when we attempted to put the uncooked pizza in, it stuck to the peel, and all our carefully arranged toppings flew off onto the extremely hot pizza stone - also included with the oven. All hell broke loose.The air, once filled with the pleasant woody smoke that showed the woodfire chips had ignited, was overpowered with the smell of burning cheese and the screeches of three panicked women.
Our first Neapolitan-style margarita became an 'emergency calzone', but it was still yummy, and we saw the potential for success.
Having spent some time trying to gently scrape the blackened ingredients off the pizza stone (they are a bit tricky to clean as you can't get them wet) we opted to just flip it over (very professional) and try again - and this time we got it right.
The pizza was crispy on the bottom, with slightly charred edges on the crust as if it had really been wood-fired. The toppings were bubbling deliciously, and it had all taken less than three minutes, with no need to turn.
Since then, I've loved having my own semi-portable pizza oven in the garden. You can set it to artisan, thin crust, pan, New York, frozen, or custom, so it will offer the perfect temperature and timing no matter what kind you're into.
And remember how I said cooking something like lamb for a bunch of people freaked me out? Well, I recently catered for a 10 person family dinner by following this recipe for a lamb shoulder with root vegetables and it was, if I do say so myself, a triumph.
Not only was I able to put the oven in the boot of my car to easily transport it to my parent's place, it was so much more simple than I've ever found using a traditional oven or BBQ for this kind of feed.
The heavy 'Pro-Heat Tray' that comes with the unit easily accommodated a 2.4kg lamb shoulder and the veggies, using the 'Gourmet Roast' setting. The recipe called for the lamb to be blasted at high heat (300c) for 10 minutes before it was slow-cooked at 150c for four hours, and I was able to programme the oven with 'Stage 1' and 'Stage 2' in order to do just that, without me needing to touch a thing.
I was so thrilled by the finished product that I forgot to take a photo of the lamb before carving (again, an idiot moment), but the resulting roast was perfect, and I used the drippings to make a tasty gravy to go with it.
The oven can also hot smoke a salmon, bake a crusty bread loaf, add a smoky flavour to your mac and cheese, and even dehydrate. During the hot summer months, it's epic to be able to do this all outside rather than sweating in the kitchen, and truth be told, you hardly need to go near it once it's underway anyhow.
At $799.99, it's no small purchase - but it does come with a two year warranty and buy now, pay later options.
If you're looking to up your outdoor cooking game with a fraction of the effort it usually takes - or even better, gift that ability to a loved one, from whom you can enjoy the spoils - I reckon it's well worth it.
Monika was supplied with a Ninja Outdoor Oven for this review.
