Clam Soup Portuguese - cooking recipe

Ingredients

20 lbs clams (small)
2 ounces fat bacon
1 large onion
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 1/2 quarts water
1 1/2 cups uncooked rice
peas

Preparation

Leave clams overnight in salted water and then wash thoroughly in several waters to clean all the sand.
Dice bacon and onion and saute with oil and butter in deep pot.
Add clams and a parsley sprig.
Cover and allow simmering slowly for about 20 minutes, stirring from time to time so onions do not burn.
Add water.
When this comes to a boil, add rice; add 10 ounces frozen peas to the soup when rice is soft.
Allow to come to a boil again and then turn heat down, allowing soup to simmer slowly until rice has softened almost to a paste.
Remove all empty shells which have loosened from the clams.