Spiced Pork Chops

These are the famous spiced chops from Home Restaurant in NY, with only a couple of changes on my part; the most important being the real necessity of brining the chops before cooking them, so they stay moist and juicy under all that high heat. I also added a little brown sugar to the rub. It rounds out the spice mix and makes for good caramelization.
We ate this with sauteed beet greens, sour cream mashed potatoes and a big salad. Happy Memorial Day Weekend, family...

Brine:
1 qt cold water
1/4 cup kosher salt
2 T sugar

Ingredients:
Olive Oil
2 double thick center cut pork chops (12 oz)
Ground black pepper

Spice Mix:
Equal parts toasted ground cumin, coriander and mustard seed.
A couple of teaspoons of brown sugar

Brine the chops for a few hours before cooking them (at least 2, not more than 8)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Rinse the pork chops well, pat them dry, and in a wide shallow bowl, coat them generously with the spice mixture. They will not need additional salt. Add pepper to taste.
In an ovenproof saute pan, brown the chops in olive oil just until nicely browned on all sides. Put the pan with the chops in the oven and bake until done -- approximately 15 minutes, depending on the size of the chops. The best thing to do is check the temperature on an instant read thermometer. Pull it out at 150 degrees and let it rest for 5 - 10 minutes.
Serves 2