If it's too brown you need something yellow.....like perhaps food coloring....or pureed roasted yellow peppers...but not sure that would be yellow enough...
A pinch of saffron? I think the flavor would be nice.
I forgot to take a picture of my roasted red pepper and tomato soup....but it was beautiful.
Another thing...you may dress it with a dollop of sour cream and a chiffonade of parsley or basil....the green may make the soup look more appetising...red and green being nearly opposite on the color wheel.
Linda C

Janet not sure why it would be so brown? I'm a little leary of adding to much more tomato paste but perhaps a bit more tomato juice will help.

Does it taste OK.....?

Hi Janet!
This is going to be an interesting thread, because a lot of us are making this soup. I haven't started mine yet, but here are two thoughts I have. One is add V-8 juice, if you have it on hand. I keep it on hand in small cans to add to my tomato based soups to up the flavor/color quotient. Also perhaps a canned roasted red pepper, which I also keep on hand as a pantry staple. The reason I suggest the red pepper is because I make a roasted red pepper eggplant dip which turns out a pretty color despite the brown eggplant because of the pepper. Maybe they add coloring to the commerical roasted peppers, or maybe the salt and vinegar of the preserving liquid fixes the color, but using the canned peppers has turned this spread into something I make a lot. Previously I didn't care too much for eggplant dips because of their drab brown color.

Good luck, and keep us posted! :)

It tastes good....think it will get better as it melds together more. I did add a bit more tomatoe paste (maybe 2 tbsp) and with the quantity I think the flavour is fine, and it did pink it up. I also started to puree the cucumbers without seeding them, so I stopped as soon as I realized and de-seeded what I could. So maybe mine is a bit thinner than it should be.

How smooth should it be....I do have teeny lumps (maybe part of the seeds) Should I strain it???

With that quantity of soup, the amount of tomato juice or V-* you would have to add to change the color much would greatly affect the taste.
So now i have to make thhat soup just because!
Janet, how did you puree? with a stick blender? in the FP? or in the blender jar? If you think the lumps are offensive strain it...or put it into the blender jar....if the lumps ( or rather "crunchy bits"!) are fine to you....leave it.
When I make it...in spite of what Sharon says....I will make it without the tomato paste amd add it a little at a time and taste as I go.

Linda C

I originally did the puree in a FP, but when I decided to add a bit of paste I used the stick blender and actually think it did a good job of getting out some lumps. I think I can live with the teeny lumps left.

i think V8 would be awesome in it.....too late now for me tho.

Uh Linda....twas not me that said you must use the tomatoa paste. It was the originator of the recipe.

So how is it going now Janet? Hope the colour has improved ....