Clam Soup Portuguese

Got this from one of my old cookbooks--Woman's Day.

• Ready In: 1 hr
• Serves: 8
• Yields: 8 bowls

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

Directions

1. Leave clams overnight in salted water and then wash thoroughly in several waters to clean all the sand.
2. Dice bacon and onion and sauté with oil and butter in deep pot.
3. Add clams and a parsley sprig.
4. Cover and allow simmering slowly for about 20 minutes, stirring from time to time so onions do not burn.
5. Add water.
6. When this comes to a boil, add rice; add 10 ounces frozen peas to the soup when rice is soft.
7. 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.
8. Remove all empty shells which have loosened from the clams.