Pour the dried beans in a large cooking pot and fill it with cold water until fully submerged. They will swell while soaking, make sure there's 4 inches (10 cm) of water covering them.

Soak the beans for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight. After that place the pot over high heat until boiling. Cover the pot, turn the heat low and cook the beans for 10 minutes. Then drain them.

Transfer the beans back to the pot. Also add the fresh sage, bay leaves, peeled garlic and half a cube of vegetable bouillon. Season with a little pepper and salt. Then add water again until the beans are just submerged. Don’t add too much.

Place the beans back over medium heat again until boiling. Stir, cover the pot and turn the heat lower. Simmer the beans in this broth for 90 minutes. Stir them regularly while simmering. In the end they should be very smooth and the stock should have disappeared more or less. Drain the cooking liquid if there's still too much left.

Remove the sage and bay leaves. You can leave the garlic cloves in it because they are as smooth as the beans by now. Drizzle with the olive oil.

Check the season of the beans and add extra pepper or salt to taste if necessary. Pour the beans in a large bowl and serve hot or lukewarm.