Inspiration for a starter please

[SecretDoor]

Any ideas?
I have been asked to make a vegetarian starter for the following meal:
The main course is Beetroot wellington with roast vegetables ( nut roast type thing surrounding beetroot in puff pastry )
The dessert is fruit salad and a cheese board

Can be hot or cold but has to be vegetarian . I was thinking of a veg soup but all seems too veg heavy cannot be cheese based as there is big cheese board.
any thoughts grateful received

Bruschetta?

Or you could do soup but serve it in little coffee cups.

A few dips & crudités - hummus, tapenade, and so on.

Something simple and light...

Tomato, mozzarella and pesto salad?

Or a peach, goats cheese and Balsamic salad?

That peach salad sounds lush Augend! Do you have a recipe?

What about making some Lemon, pepper crispy bites and serving with a simple, light, apple slaw with yoghurt dressing.

This looks very fresh and colourful and would contrast nicely with everything else. www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/carrot-orange-avocado-salad

So I literally sliced a load of peaches, and put them on top of a bed of mixed green leaves. Got the rindless soft goats cheese and crumbled it up, then added prosciutto (but I don't think it was essential and obviously not vegetarian) and then drizzled with good balsamic. It went down a treat.

I made it up because I wanted to do a peach and mozzarella salad but was already doing another salad with mozzarella and didn't want two, so I'm not sure if it's a proper recipe or not.

It is winter so a winter citrus salad?

Lots of different citrus cut into rounds - orange, clementine, maderine, small grapefruit. Add a hint of fresh chilli, a hint of celery for crunch, a few cured olives (red or black), a little fennel if you have it.
Serve on a large flat dish. Dress with oil and vinegar (red or white - not balsamic. Too heavy for this), and a little flaky salt.
It looks besutiful, and tastes so fresh.You will not be disappointed!

Mushroom and walnut pate?

There's the potential for a lot of overlap between courses. Nuts, pastry and roots veg in the main course, fruit salad, cheese course. I'd be inclined to go for something very green and light to start with. A leek, spinach, broccoli or pea soup would do the job if fairly thin and served in small quantities.

Griddled pear and buratta salad with salted, candied walnuts. It's amazing!

Gosh, thank you all so much for all the inspiring ideas and taking the time to reply.

How about leeks vinaigrette?. Nice and light and fresh, which contrast nicely with the more filling main?

I dont know which veg you are roasting, so this might be a duplication

but i had an aubergine balsamic starter recently that was loveley. It was sliced long in layers and pretty much just griddled in balsamic and garlic oil..

Thanks Augend!

Ooh, I'd like the recipe for this one too please!

For the pear salad, you need to peel, corr and quarter 1 pear per person (that’s a proper tongue twister!!). Put them briefly (cut side down) in a hot griddle pan then roast in the oven for about 5 mins - you want them warm but not cooked for too long or they go mushy.

To make the salt candied walnuts, you put the walnuts into a pan with sugar, salt and a small knob of butter, and heat til the sugar is melted. Keep an eye as it can burn quickly