I first had this summery salad at a family reunion, and it's become one of my husband's favorite dinners. Sometimes, we leave out the chicken and serve it as a side dish instead. —Jennifer Madsen, Rexburg, ID
These may look like everyday ribs, but balsamic vinegar makes a pronounced difference, thanks to a distinctive tang that melds well with the sugars and multiple peppers in the rub.
While not nearly as sweet as bananas, plantains do have a sweet flavor. In this soup we keep that sweetness at bay by using firm plantains with green skins rather than riper brown-skinned ones--the sugars will have not yet developed, so the fruit will add starchy body to the soup without too much sweetness.
