Braised lamb in dutch oven with couscous

Today's dinner was brought to us by Limerick farms - a by-Texas-standards-local sheep farm, who sold us a leg of lamb at the farmer's market some months ago. Peter's quite taken with their meat, because they actually mean lamb, not mutton, when they label it lamb.

Unfortunately, life got busy and said meat languished in the deep freezer. Today, I pulled it out, and decided I had the time, so we were going to have a nice dinner. It wasn't fully defrosted when I started: next time, following the same directions, it might end up falling off the bone tender. As it was, it was delicious and made for a very happy husband.

For a 4 lb leg of lamb, start at least 4 hours ahead of time.

1 defrosted 4 lb leg of lamb, bone-in

salt - 2 tsp?
pepper - 2 tsp?
2 Tbsp high-smoke-point oil/lard
1 bottle cab sauv or other dry red wine (less two glasses for the cook)
6 cloves garlic, minced or chopped
1 Tbsp oregano
1 Tbsp rosemary
1 Tbsp  thyme
3/4 cup golden raisins
1 can tomato paste
1 can fire-roasted tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
1-2 onions, quartered

Thaw lamb. Pat dry, salt and pepper both sides.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Pour first glass for cook.
Heat dutch oven on med-high, with oil. Sear lamb 3 minutes each side, until dark brown.
Add the rest of the ingredients, save for the second glass of wine for the cook.Stir to make sure the bottom is deglazed, and let it come up to a boil.
Turn off stove, put lid on the dutch oven, and stick in stove.
3-4 hours later, turn off oven and make couscous.

Couscous
1 onion, diced
1 Tbsp ghee or butter
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp chicken bullion powder
1 cup couscous
1 cup + a splash of boiling water

Saute diced onion & tumeric in ghee, until bright yellow and translucent. Add couscous and bullion powder, stir, and add water. Turn off burner, let sit five minutes. This is a good time to grab a pack of frozen steamable veg and turn it into the green side.

When the frozen veg is ready, the couscous will be too. Pull the dutch oven out of the oven, check the lamb, and serve lamb with the sauce around it on the couscous and veg.  

Excellent meal; we'll definitely be tracking them down for more lamb, and making this again!