Christina mentioned throwing fennel stalks into a brine, and since I was just getting a brine on for some chicken breasts I was planning to roast that night, I went and cut all the stocks off a fennel bulb. I slivered them to make them easier, I hoped, to leech flavor from, and I added a tablespoon of fennel seed lightly warmed in the microwave with some water. The breasts sat in the brine for about five hours.
Rather than make the mustard sauce I'd initially planned on for fear of masking the fennel flavor, if I got much at all, I just basted the chicken with butter.
I then made the mistake of slicing the fennel thinly and combining it with chopped kalamata olives, orange juice and garlic. To serve, I removed the chicken from the bones and sliced diagonally and layered the pieces over the fennel salad. That's the mistake part--the fennel flavor of the salad killed our ability to get how much fennel flavor had actually been absorbed by the meat. It was not, however, a mistake to brine the chicken and fennel together--the leftover chicken cold the next day was superb, had a nice sweet wild flavor to it. I would definitely do that again, but I'd probably serve it on plain buttered rice or maybe even a tomato risotto. Either would pop that fennel flavor right out.
Christina, thanks for a great idea, I'll do this again.