Blend half the basil with nuts, cheese, and garlic: Combine half of the basil with the nuts, cheese, cloves, and salt in a blender or food processor. Blend continuously until the ingredients are finely chopped. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the rest of the basil. Blend until a uniform paste has formed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

With the blender running, stream in the olive oil. Less olive oil will make a paste good for spreading on sandwiches and pizzas; more will make a sauce better for pastas and stirring into soup. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue blending as needed until the olive oil is emulsified into the basil and the pesto looks uniform.

Taste the pesto and add more salt, garlic, nuts or cheese as needed to taste.

Pesto is wonderful on pasta, sandwiches and almost anywhere you can think of. Believe it or not, you can substitute arugula or kale (or many other greens) in this recipe to make pestos with an array of flavors. Enjoy!